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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | ->''"It's not a lie if you believe it."'' |
| 7 | -->-- '''George Costanza''', ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | A character, typically an antagonist, is known for making some outrageous claims. Either [[MaliciousSlander vicious attacks against their foes]], [[AGodAmI claims of divinity]] or [[MilesGloriosus consistently twisting events so they look better]]. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | In anyone else, these could be called out as BlatantLies. But what sets this character apart is that, contrary to all evidence and the fact that they, by all rights, ''should'' know better, they honestly believe every word they're saying. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | However sane they may have been when they started, they've gone off the deep end and are now Believing Their Own Lies. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | DoubleThink is an extreme example where the said liar does know better but keeps believing his own lies simply because he can, or because it would be psychologically uncomfortable to acknowledge the contradiction. SisterTrope to AGodAmI, where there is frequently overlap. The key difference is that this trope is less specific and doesn't ''have'' to be a claim of Godhood. This trope also applies only when the character should know perfectly well they ''aren't'' a god, but have convinced themselves otherwise. Characters suffering from this trope are also prone to a SelfServingMemory. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | See also BecomingTheMask, in which a character assumes a fake identity he ultimately wishes to keep; and the AmnesiacLiar, who gets fed their own lies after memory loss. A StrawHypocrite, who manipulates others by feigning to follow a cause, may get taken in by their own rhetoric this way. Compare {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s, who think their outrageous claims are true from the get-go. With a little ObfuscatingStupidity, one can ''pretend to'' believe for as long as this gives an advantage. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Compare GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply, when a person who peddles illicit substances becomes an addict themselves; while the tropes are separate, the phrase is often used as a metaphor for this one. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease No Real-Life Examples, Please!]] |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | !!Examples: |
| 24 | |
| 25 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 28 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[spoiler:When Aizen is confronted by Ichigo for the final time, things are quite amiss. First off, Aizen can’t sense Ichigo’s spirit energy, and secondly, he manhandles Aizen. These were the same things Aizen was doing before to the opponents he had completely outclassed by becoming a transcendent being. The only way Ichigo could do the same to him is if his opponent had gone beyond even him, right? Unfortunately, Aizen, being the premier ConsummateLiar of the series, refuses to entertain that possibility. He instead claims that Ichigo “discarded” his spirit energy, sacrificing it to boost his physical strength to rival Aizen’s. Given how spirit energy works, this statement is absolute BS, but Aizen says it with a completely straight face. It’s only later when Ichigo’s about to crush Aizen with the Mugetsu that he finally accepts the truth, [[RapidFireNo epically]] [[VillainousBreakdown breaking down]] in the process.]] |
| 29 | * ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Power's absurd lies are backed up by an equally deranged SelfServingMemory. After Power accidentally saves Denji by crashing Kobeni's car, Power remembers it as a deliberate effort to save Kobeni (who was the passenger in reality). She demands Kobeni's gratitude, leaving her confused to why she should be thankful to Power for damaging her car. |
| 30 | * ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': |
| 31 | ** Even with the Eternal Paradise cult being born because his parents tried to scam people, after becoming a demon, Doma has grown to honestly believe on eating the subjects of his cult as a real form of salvation, contrary to any form of gods or afterlife. To Doma, his subjects being consumed by an immortal demon is akin to living inside him for eternity, thus a "practical" afterlife. [[spoiler:Challenging this view is what made Doma eat Kotoha, since he actually enjoyed her company as much as a sociopath could. Doma states he actually tried to explain himself to her after she saw him eating someone, only eating Kotoha after she refuted his insane belief and ran away]]. |
| 32 | ** Hantengu takes this to criminal insanity levels, having [[CompulsiveLiar lived a life of constant lies both as a human and a demon]]. Being a [[ConMan con artist]] and a SerialKiller who [[spoiler:[[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity exploited people's kindness to rob and murder them]] by [[ObfuscatingDisability pretending to be blind]], as well as [[TheBluebeard married countless women only to murder them and their children whenever he overreacts to being accused of dishonesty]]]], the absurd amount of denial over every single crime of his passed over to his demonic self. Hantengu wholeheartedly believes he is an innocent old man being constantly under attack by evildoers who wrongly accuse him of terrible deeds. With Zohakuten, the [[ThePowerOfHate physical embodiment of his hatred]], Hantengu literally projects a young and strong protector who finally stands up for "the poor old man". |
| 33 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': |
| 34 | ** Mr. Satan of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' is a comical example. With all the people cheering for him, he has a tendency to get swept up in the moment and actually believe he can take on the likes of Cell before he remembers that no, he really can't. |
| 35 | ** As for a not-so-comical example, there’s Zamasu from Anime/DragonBallSuper, who proves to be a KnightTemplar of the worst kind. Zamasu’s goal is to destroy all mortals, believing them to be the source of all evil in existence, as well as to destroy all other gods besides himself, seeing other gods as lazy fools who simply allow mortals to wreck the multiverse. This goal eventually expands to simply destroying all life, ''period,'' Zamasu seeing himself as the only living being necessary in existence. Even with all the murder he undertakes in, Zamasu genuinely believes himself to be a heroic arbiter of justice. He even actually ''cries'' over his campaign of destruction, seeing it all as a reluctant necessity. Vegeta eventually calls him out on it. |
| 36 | * In the anime/manga of ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'', Rajendra dramatically broke down in tears at his father's funeral. The scene appeared to be a bit too melodramatic to be not planned but Narsus believed the prince's tears are genuine. Rajendra had played the role of a loving son for so long, [[BecomingTheMask he ended up believing it.]] |
| 37 | * The manga-only arc Onisarashi-hen from ''Anime/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' has Natsumi [[spoiler: stating to the police that her mother killed her grandmother, then, after hiding the body, stabbed her father in the back of the neck for being incompetent and useless, then killing herself by slashing her throat open with a knife that she tried to kill Natsumi with.]] In chapter 7, [[spoiler:[[UnreliableNarrator we find out that]] it was [[TomatoInTheMirror Natsumi]] who [[TheKillerInMe committed all of the murders]]; she killed her grandmother, then got her parents to help hide her, stabbed her father in the neck, and then killed her mother after she called for help when Akira called the house.]] |
| 38 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 39 | ** God Eneru had serious AGodAmI issues. While knowing that, in the Sky Islands, "God" is merely a title for an island's leader, Eneru's [[ShockAndAwe Lightning-based Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers]] combined with the near-omnipotence granted by his enhanced mind-reading Mantra ability convinced him that he truly ''was'' divine. |
| 40 | ** Buggy the Clown breaking a bunch of prisoners out of their cells in order to facilitate his escape from [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] caused him to start being referred to as "The Great Buggy-sama". This hit a critical mass when it emerged [[spoiler:that he once served on the Pirate King's ship, alongside one of the current Four Emperors.]] As a result, he started thinking he had a chance of taking Whitebeard's head. To put that in perspective, Buggy is on the low end of ''One Piece's'' SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, and Whitebeard is called WorldsStrongestMan with zero exaggeration. |
| 41 | ** [[spoiler:Charlotte Pudding]] is one of Big Mom's top agents and children. This child is a master actor and able to sway both men and women into loving and respecting them. However, while they seem to be just as manipulative and cruel as their other siblings, this child was born with a ThirdEye and was viciously bullied by their own siblings and called a failure by Big Mom for not activating the hidden power the third eye holds. [[spoiler:When Pudding tries to kill Sanji, whom she was set up as a HoneyTrap for, and fails, Sanji asks her simply if she herself was one of the people she deceived into thinking she was evil. This, plus Sanji's genuine loving compliment of her eye, causes a breakdown implying that, yes, Pudding did lie to herself]]. |
| 42 | * ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'': Dr. Tenma expresses the belief that this trope is the ultimate proof that an AI has attained sentience; by developing the ability to not only defy the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws]] by lying but lie so thoroughly that they genuinely believe it, their thought processes become indistinguishable from that of humans. Case in point, [[spoiler:the seemingly-human BigBad is [[RoboticReveal actually a shapeshifting robot]] who, in order to carry out its mission, pretended it really was the human it posed as. He ''truly'' believes his lie, and when he’s forced to face the reality of what he is, he has a mental breakdown.]] |
| 43 | * In ''Manga/SchoolLive'', in Yuki's mind, everything she sees looks like a normal day in school, that there is no ZombieApocalypse and except for the members of the School Life Club, she only sees the rest of the students are fine and not zombies. This is actually a defense mechanism developed by Yuki to cope with the world she is living in now. |
| 44 | * A villain of the week from the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga was a fake psychic (who physically made his prophecies of doom come true.) In the end, he's in a tight spot where only manifesting actual psychokinesis can save him, and he believes so hard he actually [[SuccessHallucinations hallucinates that it's working]]. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 48 | * In an ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story, Veronica tells Archie and Reggie that whoever scores the most baskets in the next school game gets to take her out that weekend. Reggie attempts to sabotage Archie by telling him that the best way to improve his basket-shooting is to criticize himself constantly and harshly while practicing. This goes Reggie's way until Coach Clayton sets Archie straight, telling him that he should do the opposite while practicing and build up his confidence. Archie indeed goes on to score the most baskets, leading Reggie to wonder whether there was something to his "advice" after all. The story ends with Reggie practicing while berating himself and surrounding himself with demotivational posters. |
| 49 | * ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderRebound'': Mai's father sincerely seems to have deluded himself into believing Fire Lord Zuko abandoned his daughter and kicked her out when it's common knowledge that ''Mai'' is the one who left ''Zuko''. |
| 50 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The Joker sometimes believes his MultipleChoicePast, DependingOnTheWriter of course. One issue of ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' has him actually in tears as he tells the psychiatrist of his [[AbusiveParents abusive childhood]], only for the psychiatrist to coldly point out that it's the ''seventh'' story he's told now. |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': This played a crucial role during "ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen" and is explained in full after the man everyone thinks is the revived Barry turns out to be [[EvilCounterpart Professor Zoom]]. As it turns out, following his LaserGuidedAmnesia from the trauma of time-travel and seeing a museum exhibit depicting his own death at Flash's hands[[note]]For context, this was a younger version of Zoom from before he first met Barry[[/note]], he mentally convinced himself that he ''was'' Barry, and this helped him to successfully pass the probing of [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan's ring]], which would otherwise have outed him as a fraud right away if he hadn't honestly believed it to be true. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'': In ''The Betrayal of Smurfblossom'', Smurfstorm falsely claims that Blossom has a crush on Hefty in order to discredit her after she suggests that Storm should accept that they tied in a contest. Over time, however, her ''own'' secret crush on Hefty makes her start to suspect that she might have been accurate, making her [[GreenEyedMonster increasingly jealous]]. |
| 53 | * Judas Traveller from ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' was a guy with apparently limitless RealityWarping powers who claimed to be a near-godlike immortal sorcerer. It eventually turned out he was a former psychologist with a psychic ability to make people believe things... himself included. |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': DependingOnTheWriter, sometimes Lex Luthor ''actually believes'' that he is fighting to protect humanity from Superman. Other more minor villains, like (the most recent version of) Sam Lane, may believe the same. |
| 55 | * A recurring theme in Creator/IDWPublishing's ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comics: |
| 56 | ** [[GreaterScopeVillain Onyx Prime]] was initially a brave warrior and crusader who could bring the rest of the Thirteen Primes down from their storytelling and blind idealism. Then Alpha Trion pointed out to him how stories could be used to inspire people; Onyx decided to try that out and began making up stories about himself, the other Thirteen, and their allies. At some point he started believing his own propaganda and devolved into a total egomaniac, partly leading to the first major war on Cybertron. |
| 57 | *** It is subverted when it is revealed that Onyx Prime is [[spoiler:long dead before the time of the Thirteen, the Onyx Prime the Thirteen know is a time travelling Shockwave disguised as Onyx Prime who doesn't believe his own lies.]] |
| 58 | ** Alpha Trion later argues that ''all'' of the Thirteen did this and he has a good point. We're shown that Nexus Prime died because when Galvatron came to kill him, he responded by spouting nonsense about how "only a Prime can kill a Prime". It was blatantly untrue, but Nexus seemed to [[AGodAmI genuinely think he was immortal]], not bothering to defend himself or flee at all. Galvatron killed him with one shot. |
| 59 | ** Most of the Functionist Council enforce their oppressive worldview mainly to keep themselves in power, but Six-Of-Twelve eventually started buying into his own hype. He not only spouts Functionist rhetoric far more often and seriously than his comrades, but he continually claims to get visions from Primus ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane we never learn whether he's really having them or is just delusional]]) and fuses a fake Matrix into his body, utterly convinced that it's the real deal when even a casual observer like Drift can tell it's just a replica. |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/UnknownSoldier'': One iteration of the Unknown Soldier suffered a mental breakdown after liberating a Nazi concentration camp. Now he believes that whatever America does is right, no matter how horrible, because they once fought against the horrible Nazis. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 64 | |
| 65 | [[AC:{{Crossover}}s]] |
| 66 | * ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'': Despite all evidence to the contrary, Adam is completely convinced he's a champion fighting for the Faunus when he's really little more than an insane mass-murderer. Hazama/Terumi even calls him out on how he buys into his own crap. |
| 67 | * ''Fanfic/FrozenTurtles'': Like in [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 the cartoon]], Shredder thinks Splinter is the cause of all his problems not matter what. It's finally subverted by the end of ''Into the Unknown'' when Shredder's finally forced to admit all the bad things in his life were of his own doing. But at this point, he's too far around the bend to care. |
| 68 | * ''Fanfic/HawkmothDefeated'': Gabriel honestly believes that Adrien is a horrible excuse for a son due to his refusal to side with him. |
| 69 | * ''Fanfic/UltimateReImaginings'': Tea does this to the point that she blames ''Joey'' for how he winds up in the hospital. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | [[AC:''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'']] |
| 72 | * In ''Fanfic/TheLoversThatWentWrong'', Amon and Reza wonder whether this is the case with Hwan, and if he legitimately believes all his claims. |
| 73 | |
| 74 | [[AC: ''VideoGame/BioShock'']] |
| 75 | * ''FanFic/RaptureFalls'': Frank Fontaine is aware of the trope, and mocks the idea... but falls for it anyway due to his ''very'' messsed-up psyche.[[spoiler: 'Atlas' was just one more of Frank's personas to con the Rapture revolutionaries, but due to Frank's pre-existing issues and the [=ADAM=] he juiced up on at the end of the game, Atlas became a split personality and ended up completely co-opting Frank's identity, forgetting that he'd ever been Frank Fontaine.]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[AC:''Franchise/DanganRonpa'']] |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/BlackenedSkies'' has Teruteru's insistence that he's '[[LovableSexManiac the kind of pervert everyone likes]]' despite all evidence to the contrary, with his peers expressing disgust at his crude commentary and making quite clear that they'd ''really'' prefer that he give it a rest. Complicating matters is that his off-color jokes are actually [[SadClown a coping mechanism]]; part of the reason he keeps making lewd remarks is that the stresses of the killing game have worn down his filter, leading to him [[DiggingYourselfDeeper digging himself deeper]] even when he's honestly trying to dial it back. Which feeds back into his wanting to believe that the others enjoy his wisecracks, as the alternative -- that all the anger and threats to ''make'' him stop are entirely real -- is a little too painful for him to accept. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | [[AC:''Franchise/HarryPotter'']] |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/SeventhHorcrux'': A RunningGag is Harry coming up with obvious rumors or lies ForTheEvulz, but then repeating them so often that even he starts believing them. The biggest is probably Ron being a werewolf--initially, he just tosses in a line about Ron being mauled by a werewolf during an adventure in the woods to liven up the telling, but decades later, even he is shocked when it turns out Ron isn't actually a werewolf. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[AC:''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'']] |
| 84 | * ''[[Fanfic/BurnTheWitchMiraculousLadybug BURN THE WITCH]]'' presents Lila Rossi as having a chronic case of this. More specifically, she buys into her own hype, convinced that she's the ultimate BitchInSheepsClothing and a master manipulator who'll [[KarmaHoudini never face any consequences for her actions]]... even after [[LiarRevealed her deception is completely exposed]], spawning an akuma who reveals her crimes to all of Paris. She also believes that she's fundamentally irreplaceable to Hawkmoth, and that he'd never let her come to any ''real'' harm... until he finally delivers a BreakingSpeech about how [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he no longer requires her services]]. |
| 85 | * ''[[Fanfic/TheLamentSeriesChaoticNeutral Chloé's Lament]]'': |
| 86 | ** [[VillainProtagonist Chloé]] sincerely believes that the only reason she's so despised is because she's the Mayor's daughter. ''Not'' because of how she's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections abused that position]] and is a [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] EntitledBitch. She also convinces herself that Marinette [[PsychologicalProjection is just as bad as SHE is]] and simply [[BitchInSheepsClothing hiding it better]], and blames her for 'stealing her life' when ''Chloé'' was the one who made the [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy reality-altering Wish]] to [[RoleSwapAU trade places with her]] in the first place. |
| 87 | ** Adrien has always defended Chloé to Marinette and his friends by insisting to them and to himself that she had a HiddenHeartOfGold underneath her pride and arrogance. When she betrays the heroes as Miracle Queen in favor of her own selfish ends, Adrien finally realizes that he was wrong and that Chloé is just as spiteful and nasty as everyone says she is. |
| 88 | --->'''Adrien''': I kept telling myself that they don't understand. That I knew who you really were. That other people just didn't know you. But I was just making excuses. It wasn't that they didn’t know you... it's that I didn't. |
| 89 | * Serves as one of Alya's {{Fatal Flaw}}s in ''Fanfic/LadyBugOut''. Despite clearly recognizing that her ManipulativeEditing and withholding critical information would be seen by others as wrong, she insists that as a public figure, Ladybug should just ''resign herself'' to being misrepresented and lied about. Even when presented with undeniable evidence of Lila being deceptive when she [[spoiler:falsely claims to have been Rena Rouge]], Alya continues to insist that ''Marinette'' betrayed '''her''' and should be the one to apologize. |
| 90 | * ''Fanfic/{{Penumbra|MiraculousLadybug}}'': |
| 91 | ** Lila firmly believes that Marinette would actually be ''okay'' with how she's sexually harassed Adrien, simply because she knows Marinette is ''also'' attracted to him and assumes that she'd act the same way if given the opportunity. |
| 92 | ** Both Gabriel and Nathalie are well aware that Adrien was [[spoiler:raped by one of Gabriel's clients]]; in fact, they covered up the incident... and firmly believe they were right to do so, despite the clear harm this has done to him. |
| 93 | * ''WebComic/ScarletLady'': |
| 94 | ** Chloé has utterly convinced herself that she's TheChosenOne who regularly saves Paris with the occasional help of her bumbling sidekick, Chat Noir, and wins the love of her ChildhoodFriend Adrien. In reality, she ''stole'' the Ladybug Earrings, causes almost as many problems as she solves (Chat Noir does the bulk of the work), Adrien hates her because of her skyrocketing entitlement, and the only reason the other heroes keep her around is because of her Miraculous Cure. She outright ignores any evidence that contradicts her assumptions, such as Adrien directly telling her that he doesn't like Scarlet Lady. |
| 95 | ** When Chloé traps Juleka in the bathroom so that she can take her place next to Adrien for their class picture, Adrien is so disgusted and frustrated by her clinginess that he outright ''shoves her away'', with the photo capturing the moment. Yet Chloé insists that the photo is a precious memento showing how ''close'' she is to her Adrikins... which is technically true, but showcases how fractured their relationship is. |
| 96 | ** During "Dark Cupid", Chloé forges Adrien's signature onto a poster, then claims it was a gift from him for Valentine's Day. Despite Adrien's fan club immediately recognizing it as fake and calling her out on it, Chloé seems to convince herself that the signature ''she created herself'' is completely legitimate, getting the poster framed. |
| 97 | * ''Fanfic/TalesOfKarmicLiesAftermath'': |
| 98 | ** Alya continues to insist that her falling-out with Marinette after the events of ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'' is only temporary. ''Surely'' they're still besties, even after she effectively abandoned her for [[ManipulativeBitch Lila]] -- really, she just needs to see that it's all ''Lila'' and ''Adrien's'' fault, and [[NeverMyFault stop holding her responsible]] for what ''they'' did! (Or anything she happened to do 'under their influence'.) |
| 99 | ** Gabriel tells himself that Emilie will ''completely'' understand and agree with everything he did as Hawkmoth, and would be ''more'' than happy to help him leave Paris behind... along with their son, whom [[IHaveNoSon he wants nothing to do with]]. |
| 100 | ** Ms. Bustier credits herself with Chloé's CharacterDevelopment, despite being one of her biggest and worst enablers. She's sincerely shocked when Chloé calls her out on this and spells out that she only changed for two reasons: Marinette [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech called her out]] hard enough for her to have a JerkassRealization, and she decided she ''wanted'' to change for the better and put in the effort. |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/TruthAndConsequences'': In order to justify her [[DealWithTheDevil alliance with Hawkmoth]], Marinette tells a lot of lies to herself. The most damaging of these by far is convincing herself that Chat Noir was being irrationally spiteful when he rejected her plan to give Hawkmoth what he wanted. |
| 102 | * ''Fanfic/WeightOffYourShoulder'': |
| 103 | ** Chloé [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this a bit]]: it's unclear whether she ''truly'' believes that [[AbusiveParents Gabriel]] is showing his son ToughLove by [[ControlFreak micromanaging his life]]. But she ''DOES'' believe that it would be totally fine for ''HER'' to dictate every aspect of [[EntitledToHaveYou "her" Adrikin's life]], and is subsequently smugly certain that she can convince Gabriel to become a ShipperWithAnAgenda. Especially because [[spoiler:Gabriel is going to jail, so an 'alliance' would provide an avenue for him to continue controlling Adrien by proxy]]. |
| 104 | ** Future!Alix is convinced that ''her'' timeline is the PrimeTimeline, and that she can defend letting horrible things happen just "BecauseDestinySaysSo". In reality, however, [[spoiler:she's been exploiting her station as Bunnyx to ''alter reality'' as she sees fit, all for the sake of trying to force Marinette and Adrien to get together]]. |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[AC:''Franchise/MyHeroAcademia'']] |
| 107 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Cain}}'', Bakugo is so obsessed with being 'right' that he not only believes his own lies, he believes them [[DoubleThink even when they are contradictory]] to other lies he ''also'' believes in. |
| 108 | * In ''Fanfic/GreenTeaRescue'', Katsuki convinces himself that Izuku couldn't have ''possibly'' saved him from the Slime Villain, rejecting any evidence to the contrary. When he finally sees proof that Izuku isn't a powerless weakling during the Quirk Evaluation exercise, he immediately accuses him of ''lying to him'' and attacks right then and there. |
| 109 | * ''Fanfic/{{Perfect Masks|MHA}}'' has an {{Inverted}} example in Yaoyorozu. While she knows that she's doing her best to help improve the situation in Japan following the war, she still can't help feeling like an imposter who isn't accomplishing nearly ''enough''. |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[AC:''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'']] |
| 112 | * In ''Fanfic/AllAmericanGirlShinzakura'', [[spoiler:Daisy Jo]] proves to be an UnreliableNarrator |
| 113 | * ''Fanfic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed'': The LemonyNarrator straight-up reveals at one point that she's been making up most of the history as she goes along. That doesn't stop her from continuing to write her version of history and being outraged all the same though. |
| 114 | * ''Fanfic/AnExtendedPerformance'': One of the primary obstacles preventing Trixie's personal growth is that she's completely convinced herself that she doesn't ''want'' any love or friendship, leading to her isolating herself... when it's more that she has NoSocialSkills. |
| 115 | * In ''Fanfic/AMadGlimmer'', Starlight Glimmer honestly believes in her pro-equalist propaganda, and fully intends to remove her own cutie mark once she's forcibly stripped everyone else of their talents. |
| 116 | * ''Fanfic/TheNegotiationsVerse'': |
| 117 | ** In ''Fallen'', Princess Celestia attempts to convince Fluttershy of the purity of her intentions by casting a lie-detecting spell in order to prove that she's being completely honest. Though it never trips, Fluttershy still points out the holes in her logic. |
| 118 | ** One of the MultipleEndings of ''Fallen'', "Harmony's Chosen", has Pinkie Pie convince herself that they're all still happily living back in Equestria. |
| 119 | * ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' The paranoid nation of Zaldia believe it's their extensive armory of anti-alicorn weapons that kept Luna from expanding Equestria's borders further than she did (it wasn't), and that constant watch must be kept, lest she and Cadence just march right in and take over (they won't). Trixie tries pointing out to two of their StateSec that this is insane, and just gets the retort that they "see the truth". |
| 120 | * In ''Fanfic/SophisticationAndBetrayal'', Rarity eventually admits that she may have done this in regards to Cashmere, allowing herself to forget the mistakes and missteps she made that led to their ruined relationship. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | [[AC:''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'']] |
| 123 | * ''Fanfic/ACaseStudyInTheSturdinessOfTheRookie9'': Sakura, Shino and Chouji use a fair amount of {{Doublethink}} and MoralMyopia to justify their actions during the second stage of the Chuunin Exam. On one hand, Ino and her team clearly should have recognized that the Chuunin Exams were NotAGame and that even other teams from Konoha could betray them... but Ino was also overreacting when she [[WhatTheHellHero called them out for it]], as that just meant they were "a bit inconvenienced". They legitimately struggle to understand why anyone might judge them harshly for turning against their fellow Konohan shinobi, stealing from them, and leaving them surrounded by rival teams in the ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Forest of Death]]''. |
| 124 | * ''Fanfic/TruePotential'': As they lay dying, [[spoiler:Danzo]] requests that [[spoiler:Hiruzen]] acknowledge that everything they did was for the good of Konoha. Their companion acknowledges that they clearly ''believe'' that, despite it not being true. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[AC:''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'']] |
| 127 | * ''Fanfic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness Act III'': Kuyou declares with complete conviction that he used to protect those at Yokai Academy and tried to guide them. Of course, everyone at Yokai Academy knows that he's nothing but a super-powered bully and [[FantasticRacism human-hating]] KnightTemplar who abused his authority as head of the Student Police to make everyone at the school miserable. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[AC:''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'']] |
| 130 | * ''Fanfic/InkopolisChaos'': Those two villains ended up believing in their own twisted agenda: |
| 131 | ** [[spoiler:Cyalux Clover]] regularly spreads hateful propaganda about octolings, even calling Natalie a heartless seductress... and he’s believing his own word. |
| 132 | ** Lieutenant Obsidian came up with her claims that Octolings are genetically inclined to kill Inklings, and that [[spoiler:the liberating Calamari Inkantation is a brainwashing tool]]. Yet she’s convinced her lies are the truth. |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 136 | * Walter, ultimately in ''Film/BigEyes''. [[spoiler:He insists he's an artist and continues to do so until his death, even after Margaret uncovers signatures on his paintings that prove they were really just mass-produced tourist souvenirs from France]]. |
| 137 | * Marcy seems genuinely surprised by the rashes she finds on her back, shortly after assuring Paul that she was perfectly healthy in ''Film/CabinFever''. Even after seeing the rashes, she seems to convince herself that they are just marks left from when he grabbed her. |
| 138 | * In ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', Koba claims that he fights for his fellow apes, and the conviction in his voice heavily implies he may very well believe that, but his actions in betraying and trying to gun down Caesar and callously killing any apes who disobey his orders or get in his way, reveals the real Koba: a scared, desperate, angry, and selfish individual who acted out of sheer hatred for humans than for the well-being of his people. |
| 139 | * In ''Film/DeadManWalking'' Matthew Poncelet has convinced himself that he didn't [[spoiler:rape a girl and then brutally murder her and her boyfriend]]. He holds firm to this claim for a large part of the film. However, towards the end when he is pleading against his sentence to [[spoiler:the death penalty]] he breaks down and admits that he did, in fact, commit the crime. While this could be seen as him admitting what he already knew, it is far more likely that he purposely suppressed those memories and began to believe his own lies. Thankfully he [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redeems himself]] at the end. |
| 140 | * ''Film/{{Downfall|2004}}'': Despite giving orders of Germany's self-destruction, Hitler insists to people around him that the war could be won with miracle weapons and reserved troops somewhere. This would have been BlatantLies on Hitler's part, but Hitler genuinely believes in them as his infamous VillainousBreakdown is the result of learning that Stiener is unwilling to intervene due to lack of soldiers. |
| 141 | * ''Film/InMyCountry'': Colonel De Jager and [[spoiler:Boetie]] both tortured and brutally killed many black civilians, but insist that they were only protecting their country from terrorists. |
| 142 | * ''Film/TheInformant2009'': TheReveal of the film is that [[spoiler:the main character]] is a CompulsiveLiar with an extraordinary talent for self-deception. |
| 143 | * ''Film/PainAndGain'': Danny Lugo, a con artist, a thief and a kidnapper who only impersonates a businessman, beats up Frank Griga, a wealthy phone sex operator for first refusing to invest in his "[[BlatantLies business]]" and then insulting his lack of experience in investment pointing out Lugo sounds like an amateur who has little working knowledge of the financial market. Lugo's line after the first punch against Griga is, "[[PsychopathicManchild NO ONE CALLS ME A FUCKING AMATEUR]]!" |
| 144 | * In ''Film/PromisingYoungWoman'', Cassie has a habit of going to night clubs and pretending to be so drunk she can barely stand in order to teach a lesson to the men who take her home and would take advantage of her state to rape her. In at least some of the cases, the would-be-rapists put up an act of being "nice guys" who are helping her out but then go to bed with her because they feel a special connection with her or some such. The fact that they put up this act in front of other men who have nothing against taking advantage of drunk women, and with nobody present but the woman who appears to have little idea what's going on, suggests they are playing the role to themselves -- and just the fact of how scared they are when Cassie reveals she's sober reveals they're not ignorant of the reasons why it's a lie, just suppressing them. |
| 145 | * John Kramer, better known as [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw]], takes people he considers unworthy or unappreciative of life and puts them into death traps as a means of rehabilitating them. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he's not only convinced that his methods are effective, but that he's not ''really'' a SerialKiller because he's never intentionally tried to kill anyone. To him, people who die in his traps lacked a survival instinct. In fact, John is so adamantly against murder that [[spoiler: when someone built their own trap to kill a criminal and framed him for it, John personally kidnapped him to lecture him on his methods and try to convince him that his are more effective]]. At his core, his intentions really are noble but he deludes himself about ''how'' noble they are. |
| 146 | * In ''Film/TheSilverChalice'', Simon the Magician (Jack Palance) is a conman who gets rich by faking miracles. He convinces Caesar that he is able to fly, but eventually comes to believe in his own magic, jumps off a tower, and plummets to his death. |
| 147 | * ''Film/StepUp 3'': Julian was kicked out of the House of Pirates for throwing a competition over a bet, but when he insists to his sister that they kicked him out because Luke was jealous of him, he seems to genuinely believe it. |
| 148 | [[/folder]] |
| 149 | |
| 150 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 151 | * ''Literature/BenSaffordMysteries'': |
| 152 | ** The doctors who are scamming Medicaid in ''The Attending Physician'' and the AmoralAttorney in ''Three is No Justice'' seem to honestly believe their claims that they haven't done anything that should expose them to shame or the legal system. |
| 153 | ** In ''Unexpected Developments'', on some level, Walter Wellenmeister honestly believes he's a victimized man who is letting himself be sacrificed to protect his friend, the president, from any scandal. In reality, he's a CorruptCorporateExecutive who is only avoiding real punishment for some major crimes due to his high-level connections. |
| 154 | * The Olivia Goldsmith novel ''The Bestseller'' has Daniel and Judith writing a crime novel (Judith actually doing most of the work as she's a far better writer) but, to sell it properly, Daniel takes on the identity of "Jude Daniel", the sole author. The plan is to wait until the book is published to reveal the truth but Daniel is soon seduced, first by his editor, then by the New York publishing lifestyle, loving the acclaim of a supposed bestseller, the big advance paydays, and parties. This takes its toll on his marriage to a pregnant Judith and during a huge fight, Judith realizes Daniel honestly has convinced himself that he alone wrote the book, she contributed barely anything and he'll fight her in court. It's all moot as the book turns into a massive bomb, Daniel gets the blame and his standing in New York plummets as he's already blown through most of the advance money and quit his job. The novel ends with Judith ready to publish a sure hit while Daniel is left drifting in a bad teaching job. |
| 155 | * O.J. Berman from ''Literature/BreakfastAtTiffanys'' mentions that Holly is such a phony person that she actually believes her own lies. |
| 156 | * In the Creator/KurtVonnegut novel ''Literature/CatsCradle'', Bokonon and Earl [=McCabe=], rulers of the fictional West Indian country San Lorenzo, create a new religion, Bokononism, in order to improve their subjects' lives. To increase the new religion's appeal to the masses, [=McCabe=] [[ForbiddenFruit outlaws its practice upon pain of death]] (while practicing it in secret), whereupon Bokonon "flees" into the jungle, a "wanted" man. Over time, however, the two men become so habituated to their respective roles in the charade that they go insane and become enemies for real. |
| 157 | * This is a key plot-point in ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'': the priests of the spider goddess have the magic power to make anyone who hears their voices believe whatever they say. This includes themselves. As a result, they become completely certain that they are invincible and can conquer the whole world. At the same time, once they are divided in multiple temples in multiple cities, each group starts to become completely certain of its own particular version of the faith, and just as certain that the other temples are all heretics. As such, their empire begins to come apart. |
| 158 | |
| 159 | * ''Literature/TheNakedAndTheDead'': |
| 160 | ** After Wyman loses his grip on a some equipment he's hauling up a hill and denies responsibility due to fear of Croft, he spends a moment thinking he really is blameless. |
| 161 | ** Martinez lies to Hearn about the presence of Japanese soldiers in a pass because Croft ordered bun to, but later denies responsibility and insists that he told Hearn the truth and Hearn ignored him and lied to the rest of the platoon (something a skeptical Red eventually calls Martinez out on). His desire to bury his guilt and responsibility for the patrol going into dangerous territory and multiple people dying make Martinez start to believe the lie he's telling. |
| 162 | * Creator/DavidWeber: |
| 163 | ** ''Literature/HonorHarrington:'' |
| 164 | *** Cordelia Ransom is the head of the Office of Public Information for the People's Republic of Haven. She is the one who manages the PRH's propaganda, and in ''In Enemy Hands'' Citizen Admiral Thomas Theisman is horrified to realize that she seems to genuinely believe every word she broadcasts. We see that her fellow heads of state are very concerned that Ransom believes her own propaganda. |
| 165 | *** The Masadans also believe things happened in a way that can't possibly be true, all so that they can hold their women in less than slavery and continue to pursue their goal of destroying Grayson. |
| 166 | *** The Solarian League Navy is the most powerful, technologically advanced and well-led navy in the known galaxy. Any defeats it has suffered are the result of treason and trickery and not at all any fault of the ships or officers of the SLN, and if you say differently you are obviously guilty of defeatism. |
| 167 | ** ''Literature/{{Safehold}}:'' |
| 168 | *** The "Archangels", especially Langhorne and Bédard. They set up a PathOfInspiration specifically to keep humanity from developing technology again, in violation of the original plans for their mission, in part to satisfy their own megalomania. Pei Kau-yung grew concerned that they had actually come to believe they were angels. |
| 169 | *** This is, and is lampshaded as, the single creepiest attribute of Grand Inquisitor Zhaspahr Clyntahn. No matter what he does, he can come up with a justification for why it's the best course of action for everyone, and not just for him personally. This justification often requires blatant disregard of facts he knows and doesn't know everyone else knows, and sometimes even facts [[{{Gaslighting}} he knows they know]]. He seems to have compartmentalized his mind to such a degree that he can think himself innocent even as he knows he's guilty. There's a scene in the third book where he and his fellows debate the proper course of action in response to a murder apparently committed by the protagonists. As the meeting goes on, the others slowly realize one by one that ''Clyntahn'' paid the assassins, [[FalseFlagOperation just so the protagonists would be blamed]], but at any intimation the others make of this, he's as indignant as if his conscience was spotless. |
| 170 | %%* Must be the case with Nozdryov in ''Literature/DeadSouls'', who tells a lot of bullshit, even in court. You'll have to read it to see how much he [=BSs=]. |
| 171 | * ''Literature/EverythingEverything'': It turns out that [[spoiler:Madeline isn't actually sick; her mother simply decided she was and had to be kept in her house at all times, despite having three other doctors tell her that it wasn't true. Once the truth comes out, Madeline's mother keeps right on insisting Madeline is ill, and it's apparent that on some level, she believes it, despite the ever-growing evidence to the contrary. It's implied that this is a result of both fearing losing Madeline, and not wanting to face the fact that she essentially stole eighteen years of her daughter's life for nothing.]] |
| 172 | * In James P. Hogan's ''Giant's Star'', the leaders of a race of TransplantedHumans has been concocting false reports of a dangerously warlike Earth, in order to get permission (from the alien civilization that transplanted them) to neutralize the threat. The protagonists counter this by hacking into the schemers' central computer and making it think that Earth actually ''was'' militarized and ready to kick their asses. This left the enemy leaders in a state of befuddlement that [[ParanoiaGambit escalated into panic]] as the reprogrammed computer [[{{Gaslighting}} insisted that it had been reporting about the danger for years]] and didn't understand why no adequate defenses had been prepared. |
| 173 | * A minor character, [[spoiler:Mrs. Luxmore]], in the ''Literature/HerculePoirot'' novel ''Cards on the Table''. This led to [[spoiler: Major Despard]] being part of Mr. Shaitana's collection of uncaught murderers because she'd convinced herself he'd killed for her. To elaborate: [[spoiler:Mr. Luxmore was a botanist who hired Major Despard as a guide to a jungle tour. During the trip, Mrs. Luxmore made advances on Despard, who did not reciprocate. Mr. Luxmore suffered from a bout of fever and fell into delirium one night. Major Despard followed with his rifle, intending to merely take down the raving Luxmore without hurting him. Mrs. Luxmore surprised him and believed he was about to kill the botanist for her, so she tackled Despard, changing his nonlethal shot into a killing one.]] |
| 174 | * {{Discussed}} in ''Literature/Liar2009'': |
| 175 | -->Yet that's not the worst danger of being a liar. Oh no. Much worse than discovery, than their sense of betrayal, is when you start to believe your own lies.\ |
| 176 | When it all blurs together.\ |
| 177 | You lose track of what's real and what's not. You start to feel as if you make the world with your words. Your lies get stranger and weirder and denser, get bigger than words, turn into worlds, become real.\ |
| 178 | You feel powerful, invincible. |
| 179 | * ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Gollum really believes that the Ring was his birthday gift. He actually murdered his friend and took it from the corpse. However, the Ring is shown to corrupt every being who bears it, given a long enough time period. A major element of this corruption is that all it takes is close proximity to the Ring to make a being eventually come to believe that they deserve to have it and that it is right and true and fair that they and only they possess and wield it. |
| 180 | * Because of their tendency to lose their old memories to TheFogOfAges, the Marra of ''Literature/TheMadnessSeason'' who live for too long under a particular cover story eventually wind up believing it, to the point that they actually think that they are mortal and can die. |
| 181 | * DoubleThink from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', without which the entire system would collapse: The ability to consciously lie and tell propaganda, yet at the same time believe every word of it. |
| 182 | * ''Literature/TheMoomins'': The Whomper in "A Tale of Terror" from ''Tales From Moomin Valley'' is more MrImagination, but the fact he convinces himself his stories are true and then repeats them as fact means he comes across as a liar. When his parents tell him it's wrong to lie, he is completely bewildered; he ''knows'' that. |
| 183 | * In ''Literature/RedDwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'', when Lister reminds Rimmer of their first meeting, when Rimmer was a passenger in Lister's taxi, Rimmer responds "That wasn't me! [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial The guy in the false moustache who went to an android brothel?]] That wasn't me!" The narration notes that, even though it ''was'', it's so out of sync with Rimmer's self-image that he's genuinely offended by the suggestion. |
| 184 | * ''Literature/TheScholomance'': |
| 185 | ** TheHero Galadriel "El" Higgins told herself for ''years'' that she was going to join an enclave if she managed to graduate from the titular school. Part of her CharacterDevelopment in the first book is coming to terms with the fact that this was just a lie she told herself to make herself feel better -- if she had really wanted to join an enclave, she could've just blown her mana supply doing one of the powerful displays of magic that she's capable of in front of everyone and gotten drowned with offers years ago. The reality is that El hates the idea of joining an enclave as much as her mother does, having recognized what they really are: the decadent, classist magical elite. |
| 186 | ** In the second book, El speculates that the titular school came to believe in the lie it was built on: "to offer sanctuary and protection to all the wise-gifted children of the world". The creators of the school likely never intended to protect ''all'' the wizard children of the world, just give the enclave kids a better chance at surviving. But while they didn't believe the lies they were spewing, the school did, and never forgot. |
| 187 | * ''Literature/StartingANewLifeForTheDiscardedAllRounder'' has a ''cultural'' case. The country protagonist Roa comes from has a culture where jobs are decided by an apprenticeship system. The culture believes this system is flawless and separates the wheat from the chaff, where only the best of the best can make it to the end. Problem is, the system is anything '''but''' flawless. The only reason anyone in the culture believes it's flawless is because the blame for all problems is summarily dumped on the apprentices who wash out, calling them "quitters" if they try to change mentors for any reason, or "talentless losers" if the mentors throw them out, and no mentor wants to risk their own reputation to try and salvage them. Naturally, the top brass doesn't respond well when protagonist Roa does well ''in spite'' of this system being stacked against him. |
| 188 | * ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': |
| 189 | ** A rare positive example in the Lightweavers. For these people, BelievingTheirOwnLies really ''can'' make those lies truth. |
| 190 | ** ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'': Nalan, Herald of Justice, has managed to convince himself that the next [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Desolation]] is not coming, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, including things he sees with his own eyes. [[spoiler:Subverted as it turns out he has mounting doubts and is desperate to convince himself that the Desolation isn't real. Unfortunately for him, the lies don't take as well as he would wish them to.]] |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 194 | * ''Series/AustinAndAlly'': Played humorously in the episode "[=MyTABs=] and My Pet". As one of the gang's attempts to get rid of the line, Dez disguises himself as an employee at the store and claims that there is a hidden golden horseshoe in the mall with the reward to whoever finds it being a free [=MyTAB=]. However, Dez genuinely believes that he works at the store so he literally hides a golden horseshoe which cost the final [=MyTAB=]. |
| 195 | * In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', FakeUltimateHero [[Characters/TheBoys2019SoldierBoy Soldier Boy]] [[spoiler:was revealed to be a fraud who never actually fought in any wars, but genuinely saw himself as a war hero who gave his all for his country, and is depressed by the idea he was cast away and forgotten. His angst was genuine and he got violent with Hughie when his past was questioned, indicating at some point he came to genuinely buy the hype around himself.]] |
| 196 | * Vince Gilligan says that the writers of ''Series/BreakingBad'' consider self-deception to be Walter White's greatest talent. [[spoiler:Which is what makes it all the more shocking when, in the final episode, Walt finally admits that he committed all the crimes he did over the series to make himself feel important and powerful, and not, as he had always previously insisted, for the good of his family.]] |
| 197 | -->''We always say in the writers' room, if Walter White has a true superpower, it's not his knowledge of chemistry or his intellect, it's his ability to lie to himself. He is the world's greatest liar. He could lie to the pope. He could lie to Mother Teresa. He certainly could lie to his family, and he can lie to himself, and he can make these lies stick. He can make himself believe, in the face of all contrary evidence, that he is still a good man.'' |
| 198 | * ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': [[spoiler: In full effect by the penultimate episode of ''Series/DexterNewBlood''. [[Characters/DexterDexterMorgan Dexter Morgan]] has convinced himself that Harrison has his own Dark Passenger, rather than the much more likely (and less self servingly homicidal) reasoning that a boy fresh out of foster care and off the cusp of fatherly abandonment may simply be lashing out with justified, unprocessed anger. The latter turns out to be the case.]] |
| 199 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 200 | ** [[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon King Joffrey Baratheon]] seems to truly think of himself as a magnificent and heroic king who single-handedly protected King's Landing from EvilOverlord Stannis Baratheon and triumphed over the Starks, constantly boasting of crushing his enemies even though his faction's success is entirely founded on the competence of his uncle and grandfather, and ''in spite'' of Joffrey being a DirtyCoward whose AxCrazy nature turned his opposition from conspiratorial whispering into outright war in the first place. |
| 201 | ** Making honest feelings do dishonest work is one of [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Queen Cersei Lannister's]] many gifts. Oberyn and Tyrion even discuss this after Cersei brings up her daughter in a blatant attempt to gain sympathy and turn Oberyn against Tyrion; Oberyn notes that she might have even been sincere or started believing it while she was lying. |
| 202 | * This is a possible interpretation of Sue Sylvester from ''Series/{{Glee}}'', seeing as how she keeps up the crazy claims even in her own diary. |
| 203 | * Oliver, the main character of ''Series/GreenAcres,'' is probably doing this to try to hold on to his sanity: He keeps insisting that anyone who claims that they can understand a pig is crazy, yet he clearly [[IntelligibleUnintelligible understands Arnold the Pig]] just as much as everyone else. Very often, he will catch himself answering the pig and [[VerbalBackspace stop mid-sentence,]] then say something along the lines of, "Why would anyone think they can talk to a pig?" |
| 204 | * When ''Series/KamenRiderDouble's'' Detective Jinno was a beat cop, he had the effect of ''inducing'' this in others by being so gullible that the delinquents lying to him to get out of trouble would end up BelievingTheirOwnLies. After repeatedly distracting Jinno with claims of a UFO, a young [[TheHero Shoutarou]] eventually ended up searching for [=UFOs=] with him. [[spoiler: And when a girl in a group of teenage vigilantes lying about having given up fighting, but having to do so to save her friends. Jinno believed her so wholeheartedly that she genuinely did give up fighting after that.]] |
| 205 | * ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': |
| 206 | ** "[[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS6E7Charisma Charisma]]" deals with a cult leader, Eugene Hoff, who believes himself to be the Biblical Abraham. The detectives find out that he is a con artist who was arrested numerous times for fraud, identity theft, and other things, tried to create his own church just so that he could evade taxes and impregnated a little girl just to get access to her inheritance. Even with all these things in mind, he is shown to be deluded enough to believe the things he says to the point he [[AGodAmI declares himself bigger than God]] in the climax. |
| 207 | ** Another villain is [[MyBelovedSmother an over-controlling mother]] who abandoned her oldest son and told her other boys that he was killed in the foster system. When said son walks in very much alive, she goes into an epic FreakOut while repeatedly claiming that her son is dead. It is, however, ambiguous as to whether she had come to believe her own lies or if she was just pissed that her fiction was unravelling. |
| 208 | * On ''Series/TheListener'', the team is interrogating an expert con artist. Toby does his mind-reading on her but is thrown to find she's "remembering" a conversation she had with a mark that the team knows for a fact never happened. Toby realizes that the reason the woman is so good at cons is that she's able to convince herself this stuff really happened to the point she creates an entire memory for it. |
| 209 | * ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' has two guys running a spiritual center for years, only for one of them (the guru) to start believing in all his NewAge-inspired nonsense, to the chagrin of his partner who wants to lead a different life. |
| 210 | * One episode of ''Series/Numb3rs'' had a mob killer who wanted to make a confession, but while he passed the polygraph and even an MRI scan, the confession didn't match the facts. It turned out he'd been so horrified by the crime ([[spoiler:which he hadn't even been able to commit]]) that he'd created a false memory using details from an unrelated, much cleaner crime he also participated in, and genuinely believed that was what happened. It's only when Larry and Charlie catch an inconsistency and Don presses him on it while simultaneously questioning him about the incident he was borrowing details from that he finally breaks through the mental barrier and remembers what really happened. |
| 211 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': When Rumpelstiltskin is asked by Snow White[[note]]Who has just darkened her heart by tricking one villain into killing another.[[/note]] how he lived with all the horrible things he did throughout the series, he answers thusly: |
| 212 | -->'''Rumpelstiltskin:''' Well, you tell yourself you did the right thing. And if you say it often enough, one day you might actually believe it. |
| 213 | * On ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Jerry has to beat a lie-detector test and goes to the biggest ConsummateLiar he knows for help: George, who gives him the advice "It's not a lie if ''you'' believe it". |
| 214 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': |
| 215 | ** The Goa'uld are such {{Large Ham}}s that it's impossible to believe they ''don't'' actually think they're gods. Ba'al and Anubis stand out, and have the advantage, by being smart enough to remember they're not ''really'' gods. And even Anubis sometimes falls victim to this trope... and given that his [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence half-ascended]] nature makes him more "god-like" than the rest, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Ba'al, however, doesn't even keep up the pretense of being a god when he's among characters who know the truth. |
| 216 | ** An early episode, "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E5TheFirstCommandment The First Commandment]]", features the commander of a [=SGC=] team who falls into this trap himself and has to be put down by SG-1. In this case, though, the man had also likely gone insane from over-exposure to the planet's incredibly harsh UV radiation. |
| 217 | ** The Ori, being [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence fully ascended beings]] who [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly can enhance their already-immense power through prayer]], likewise believe themselves to be gods. The problem is, they pretty much ''are'' (what with the immortality, non-corporeality, and nigh-omniscience and omnipotence), raising the issue of exactly what defines a "god" if the Ori don't qualify. The good guys don't ever really come up with a fully satisfactory answer, but they do sway a few of the Ori's followers by demonstrating that while the Ori have the ''power'' of gods, they certainly don't behave like the loving and benevolent overlords they claim to be. |
| 218 | * ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': |
| 219 | ** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin of Evil]]", Captain Picard says this of Armus when he's been stranded on a planet for so long because its former residents didn't want to have anything to do with him, having shed themselves of him ([[ResidualEvilEntity quite literally]]). |
| 220 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E14AMatterOfPerspective A Matter of Perspective]]" is told in RashomonStyle. Riker is accused of murdering a scientist and attempting to assault his wife, and a holodeck simulation is rigged up for each of the witnesses. These scenes all drastically contradict each other (especially the part where the deceased scientist's wife accuses Riker of trying to rape her while Riker claims that he resisted her advances), but Deanna, the ''Enterprise'' counselor (and conveniently, also an empath), says that each person ''believes'' their story to be true so far as they remember it. |
| 221 | * The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant Valiant]]" has Jake Sisko and Nog meet up with the crew of the ''Defiant''-class U.S.S. ''Valiant''... or rather, the Starfleet Academy ace group Red Squad, who have been on their own since the officers who were supervising them were killed in battle. The "captain", Tim Watters, believes that it is their destiny to make their mark on the Dominion War and seek to do so by attacking a prototype Jem'Hadar battleship and the crew follow along, believing him. This is despite the fact that they're just a group of cadets who have had their training cruise interrupted by the start of the Dominion War and that some of them would rather just go home. [[spoiler:The attack fails; the ''Valiant'' is destroyed and Jake, Nog, and CPO Collins are the sole survivors.]] |
| 222 | * The 1989 mini-series ''Twist of Fate'' has SS Colonel Helmut von Schrader on the run after taking part in a failed attempt to kill Hitler. In desperation, he has himself surgically altered and hides as Jewish prisoner Benjamin Grossman. Circumstances cause Grossman to eventually become a well-known hero in Israel and marrying a Jewish woman. 25 years after the war, a couple of his former SS buddies track him down in Argentina. They mention that Grossman's son, Danny, is doing a documentary that "perpetuates the Jewish Holocaust hoax." Grossman's face makes it clear he can't believe what's crazier: That the former Nazis are claiming the Holocaust never happened to each other; or that they're saying this to a man who was not only a ''prisoner'' of such a camp but ''helped run one himself''. |
| 223 | [[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 226 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Desus honestly believes his own VillainWithGoodPublicity reputation, because he's affected by the same mind-manipulating magic that forces everyone else to rationalize his horrible actions away. |
| 227 | * ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Cyric, the God of Lies, guided a mortal author to write a book called the Cyrinishad which would [[BrownNote make anyone who reads it or hears it read aloud]] believe that Cyric was the greatest of all gods. Cyric then read it himself and fell victim to its enchantments, bringing his megalomania to new heights. For a time, he saw his enemies as too "insignificant" to care and even got Madness [[OddJobGods in his portfolio]]. Later it was discovered that the only way to get rid of this for a ''deity'' involves a drop in DivineRanks. |
| 228 | * ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': |
| 229 | ** The Phenomenologists can spend [[{{Mana}} Mania]] to immediately achieve an [[CriticalHit Exceptional Success]] on any Subterfuge roll. This is because they literally ''never'' think they're lying -- their particular flavor of madness is the refusal to believe that objective reality exists, so if if they think something is true, then to them it ''must'' be true. And if they change their mind, they'll believe the new thought just as strongly, even if it directly contradicts the previous. |
| 230 | ** Normal Geniuses are fully aware that what they're doing is ''not'' real science, that their theories only work for them and do not bear any special relation to reality. An Unamada, however, has forgotten this and now believes that reality ''actually'' works according to his own personal theories. |
| 231 | * ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': The Balseraph demons essentially have this as the core aspect of their character. As fallen Angels of Truth, they become Demons of Deception, capable of weaving lies that others end up believing without question. But to do this, a Balseraph must first convince ''himself'' of the lie, warping his own personal truth to reflect the lie. For example, a Balseraph trying to convince a bar bouncer that he's a VIP must first convince himself that, "Yes, I'm a VIP, and I've been at this club dozens of times. Why isn't that bouncer letting me in already?" This is why someone pointing out their lies does such a number on them as they start to ''doubt'' their own lies- and generally, they've told so many lies that a good chunk of their worldview is at risk. |
| 232 | * ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'': This is one of the primary dangers faced by Prometheans pursuing the Refinement of Gold. This Refinement involves the Promethean living among humans and pretending to be one, but the Promethean must never forget that this ''is'' a pretense, that it is still a monster and that sooner or later the mask will slip and the torches and pitchforks come out. |
| 233 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': This is the main flaw of Yagno Petrovna, Darklord of G'henna. He is the high priest of Zhakata, an evil god of famine. He stubbornly refuses to realize that Zhakata doesn't exist even though he made up almost everything about Zhakata himself. |
| 234 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': [[TheEmpire The Coalition States]] High Command likes to blame all the ills in the world on [[FantasticRacism magic and non-humans]]. In the beginning, it was just a convenient {{Scapegoat}} Emperor Prosek and his advisers used in order to grab more power. However, they've been telling their people the Big Lie for so long that they now believe it themselves. |
| 235 | * ''TabletopGame/WorldTreeRPG'': Bonstables are pathological liars and deceivers, but never say anything that they truly think is false. Rather, they constantly delude themselves into thinking that whatever ruse they're keeping up is the actual truth -- when they take the shape of a Prime species, for instance, they convince themselves that they are actually a member of that species for all purposes -- and when they inevitably change their minds and start another deception rationalize things to believe themselves to have always been correct and honest at any given time. This makes them very difficult to discover, since mind-reading magic can't generally penetrate their delusions and lie detection reads them as perfectly honest and forthright. |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 239 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Over the course of the plot, C legitimately convinces himself that the acquisition of the AncientArtifact would [[spoiler:give him the power to [[{{Necromantic}} revive]] his deceased lover without any world-ending repercussions]]. Near the end as his plan is falling apart, he still convinces himself things will proceed accordingly while in the midst of a MotiveDecay that goes completely against his original intentions. |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'': The game's plot is kicked off with the other members of the Eight Guardian Generals assassinating Emperor Strada and [[{{Frameup}} framing]] Asura for it. Throughout the rest of the game, the Guardian Generals, now the Seven Deities, repeatedly call Asura a traitor without irony, indicating that they themselves have come to believe that Asura really did assassinate the Emperor over the millennia. |
| 241 | * ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': |
| 242 | ** [[TheFundamentalist Zachary Comstock]] first used Rosalind Lutece's invention to look into alternate realities and predict the future so as to set himself up as God's prophet. Somewhere along the way, he began to buy into his own act, as Rosalind Lutece observes in a recording. |
| 243 | -->'''Rosalind Lutece:''' When I met Comstock, he was little more than a preacher, able to move both members of the flock or members of Congress with equal dexterity. He believed in my work, and his influence bought the funds I so needed. And if he wanted to use Tears to play prophet, that was his prerogative. But at some point, the man became incapable of distinguishing his performance from his person. |
| 244 | ** Exaggerated in the ''Burial at Sea'' {{DLC}} set in Rapture, where that dimension's Booker is revealed to be [[spoiler:not a Booker after all, but a ''Comstock'' who, upon abducting baby Anna/Elizabeth as Comstocks tend to do, accidentally ended up killing her (instead of the Tear chopping off her finger like it usually does, it chopped off her ''head'' instead). He felt such immense guilt over this that he fled to another dimension's Rapture and regressed back into Booker in order to escape it. The deception was so thorough that he came to truly believe that he was ''always'' that world's Booker. As Rosalind Lutece puts it, Comstock was [[NeverMyFault never one to own up to his own errors.]]]] |
| 245 | * ''VideoGame/Bomberman64TheSecondAttack'': Despite constantly cowering from every single boss battle and every time a Gravity Generator room is visited, Pommy insists to the very end that he's the hero of the story (and moreover that he's the one looking out for Bomberman). |
| 246 | * Celestia Ludenberg in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', also known as 'Queen of Liars' and 'Ultimate Gambler', is capable of lying in a way that she could even believe own lies. Or so she claims. However, based on her free time events, it could probably guess that [[spoiler:she probably also lied on her identity and history, which are based on highly daring and impossible events you can only find in fictions, and her real name was a much more common 'Taeko Yasuhiro'. She got so over in her lies that she believed that she really is born as 'Celestia Ludenberg'.]] |
| 247 | * The demon lord Belial from the ''Videogame/{{Diablo}}'' franchise is implied to be a victim of this. As the Lord of Lies, Belial's shtick is that he's a master of deception and manipulation, and is also known for his extreme arrogance in spite of being a Lesser Evil (in contrast to the 3 Prime Evils, a triumvirate of Demon Lords who rule over Hell). Some of the lore surrounding Belial suggests that he may have told himself he was the most powerful demon in existence one too many times and deceived himself into believing it. |
| 248 | * In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'' Sotha Sil claims this is why Almalexia is a better storyteller than Vivec. Vivec may obfuscate the truth but he at least still acknowledges that he's lying. Almalexia however actually believes the stories she tells. |
| 249 | -->'''Sotha Sil:''' She believes her tales implicitly. As does everyone else. Her capacity for deception appears limitless. She sows lies like a master gardener sows seeds, and the harvest of trust and adulation is breathtaking in scope. |
| 250 | * ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 251 | ** Morpheus from ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' is an agent of the Master who was appointed to run a ScamReligion known as the Children of the Cathedral. He was nothing but a former gang leader who was found suitable for the task, but he seems to have started buying his own schtick and genuinely sees himself as a vital part of the Master's plans. [[TheDragon The Lieutenant]] remarks on this: |
| 252 | --->"It's quite amusing. He thinks he's so much more than just a slug the Master recruited to head his Children of the Cathedral nonsense. Ah, well. He, too, will be dipped in the Vats and he'll probably die a horrible death... I hope." |
| 253 | ** Caesar from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' seems perfectly upfront with you that he's not a godlike messiah-emperor like the Legion believes and that he's just using that to control them for the greater good... but the grandiose ways he constantly talks about himself, his total refusal to acknowledge the opinions of others, and the horrific temper tantrum he throws if you disrespect him shows that he's really an egomaniacal ControlFreak [[DrinkingTheKoolAid who's drinking his own Kool-Aid]]. |
| 254 | ** The Institute from ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' are especially bad about this. As the game goes on, it's obvious they're a bunch of incompetent mad scientists who [[ForScience have little real justification for what they're doing]], but to the very end, they continue to insist that they're the good guys helping the Commonwealth and ensuring humanity's future. Their methods involve bizarre and destructive experiments like making Super Mutants, creating and abusing robot slaves, and doing everything in their power to undermine regional governments in the Commonwealth. If you call Father/[[spoiler:Shaun]] out on all the awful, counterproductive things the Institute does, Father barely even acknowledges your criticisms; he just babbles on about how important the Institute is to everyone's survival. Tellingly, you can get all the other major factions to make peace with each other, but you can't ''ever'' get the Institute to do so because [[ItsAllAboutMe they refuse to even consider the idea that anyone else in the wasteland is doing something useful]]. |
| 255 | * Sam briefly discusses this in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', after Jason sneaks into a privateer recruiting station and [[DressingAsTheEnemy kills one of the recruits to steal his uniform]]. When Jason asks how "Foster" the privateer should act, Sam reminds him to "be gullible" and that Jason must believe the lie that he ''is'' Foster to get other people to believe it. Befitting [[HeWhoFightsMonsters one of the game's main themes]], Jason soon starts believing it a little too much. |
| 256 | * ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': This is Odin's modus operandi. He's certainly ''capable'' of empathy and self-reflection, but whenever he has a moment of either, he comes up with some excuse to save face and then convinces himself it was true and he was right all along, invalidating any doubt and potential character development. This is also the reason he keeps on lying even when he ''knows'' his audience already knows the truth. [[spoiler:The best example of this when he denies responsibility for killing Thor to Thrud... when she has just witnessed him stab Thor with Gugnir, and ''he's still holding the spear'' as Thor's body disintegrates.]] |
| 257 | * ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Zote the Mighty is a powerful warrior feared far and wide -- that's what he says, despite getting beaten enough to prove he's more of a DamselScrappy. Despite being very wrong, he seems thoroughly deluded about his nonexistent prowess. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': |
| 259 | ** After the Joker [[spoiler:[[NukeEm nukes Metropolis]] and uses the Scarecrow's fear gas to trick Regime Superman into killing Lois Lane]], Regime Superman kills him with his bare hands and subsequently convinces himself that it was "[[HeWhoFightsMonsters one death to save millions of lives]]." Of course, anyone who saw it can tell right away that he was motivated by [[RevengeIsNotJustice vengeance]], ''not'' justice. |
| 260 | ** Then there is later in the game where he is planning to destroy several cities because they are starting to rebel against his totalitarian rule. He believes they reject his safety and are ungrateful so they don't deserve to live. |
| 261 | ** Supergirl herself calls Regime Superman out on this in ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': |
| 262 | --->'''Supergirl:''' Diana said the Joker was executed. Were you the one who...?\ |
| 263 | '''Regime Superman:''' I took one life to save millions.\ |
| 264 | '''Supergirl:''' [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope But it wasn't just one]], Kal, was it? How many? '''How many?!''' Everywhere I go, [[BewareTheSuperman people are afraid]] of [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS this...]] [[BrokenPedestal Now I know why]]. |
| 265 | * ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'': [[spoiler: Shono, one of the main antagonists and creator of AD-9 discovered his cure for Alzheimer's could not be fixed and would always result in death. However, he kept insisting AD-9 could be improved to delude himself into believing he didn't kill so many people for nothing.]] |
| 266 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 267 | ** Referenced in the credits song for ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. There's a part of the lyrics which states "Even men with the greatest intentions can end up believing their own lies." This illustrates a common theme in the context of the story where multiple characters are [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned extremists]] who want to change the world through very drastic measures, including even the main protagonist Raiden who uses extreme violence to punish organizations, harshly and permanently, that he views to be evil. The dissonance comes from Raiden viewing himself to be an enforcer of justice while using arguably evil methods to reach those goals; how can a man claiming to uphold justice feel like a good person knee-deep in bodies? |
| 268 | ** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': Huey seems to have deluded himself into believing that [[spoiler:he really didn't know that the "nuclear inspection" he arranged for [=MSF=] during ''Ground Zeroes'' was actually a Trojan Horse operation run by XOF]]. Taken to ludicrous extremes when [[spoiler:he continues to adamantly insist that Strangelove was DrivenToSuicide even in the face of solid evidence that he locked her up in the Peace Walker A.I. pod to suffocate]]. Ocelot even lampshades this on a cassette tape, remarking that the hardest man to break is "the kind that's fooling himself." |
| 269 | * [[PlayerCharacter Captain Martin Walker]] in ''Videogame/SpecOpsTheLine'' believes his own lies [[spoiler: regarding his bombing of a civilian camp with [[KillItWithFire white]] [[BodyHorror phosphorus]]]], because [[NeverMyFault he cannot accept]] [[IgnoredEpiphany what he has done]]. |
| 270 | * Sydney in ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' accuses [[PlayerCharacter Ashley Riot]] of this, claiming that Ashley murdered an innocent woman and her child in the course of his duties as a soldier, and was so ashamed of what he'd done that he re-imagined the incident as a family picnic with the woman as his wife, the child his son, and the murder being carried out by some random thugs. [[UnReveal It's left ambiguous as to which of the two versions is correct]]. |
| 271 | * In the online game, ''VideoGame/WarOfLegends'', most of the Paladins honestly believe they are gods and that the game couldn't have been even thought of without them. Adding to the fact, they believe they won battles they clearly lost and make up excuses to avoid having to claim defeat while not letting others use the exact same excuses. |
| 272 | [[/folder]] |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 275 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Raven Branwen tends to justify her actions to herself using the same logic she uses to justify it to others, despite clearly suppressing any misgivings she has. She tries her hardest to convince everyone, including herself, that she's acting out of a MightMakesRight / TheSocialDarwinist attitude, despite everyone else seeing that she's more of a DirtyCoward. For example, [[spoiler:Lionheart asks her who she's trying to convince when she's telling him that there's no shame or fear in working with Salem because she knows [[InvincibleVillain Salem can't be defeated]]. When Yang confronts her at the Vault about killing the previous Spring Maiden, she seems to be trying to convince herself it was truly a MercyKill as much as she is trying to convince her daughter. Yang [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech brutally tearing apart this mindest]] causes Raven to have a VillainousBreakdown]]. |
| 276 | [[/folder]] |
| 277 | |
| 278 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 279 | * Immortals in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' are bound by their word. If they make a vow and knowingly break it, they're plagued by constant mental reminders of their oathbreaking until it's rectified. LoopholeAbuse is one way around this, but only if the Immortal himself sincerely believes the loophole is not breaking their word. When an Immortal declares that the best thing he can do in the name of his vow to aid one of the protagonists is absolutely nothing, he waits to see if there's any effect before being glad he believes his own hype. |
| 280 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Katamari}}'', Ace is completely convinced that the Prince is a prideful, selfish AttentionWhore who'll do whatever it takes to come out on top. In other words, he thinks the Prince is [[{{Jerkass}} just like him]]. |
| 281 | * In one of the ''Webcomic/LasLindas'' side-stories, a young tribal girl tries to set up an outsider as a god so that she can leave her island. And then the [[BrickJoke gophers]] that Minos threw with his super-strength start falling from the sky. She ends up getting a job at Las Lindas a few months later to follow Idward. |
| 282 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 283 | ** This is one of the critical flaws of [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]]. She's fundamentally incapable of seeing herself in the wrong, and would frequently convince herself of whatever she had to in order to keep it that way even in the face of indisputable evidence otherwise. Most notably, [[spoiler:the gods themselves strip her of all of her powers as a [[ThePaladin paladin]] in response to her killing of Lord Shojo; Miko soon convinces herself that it's clearly a SecretTestOfCharacter, and that the Order of the Stick must've tricked her into the whole thing]]. |
| 284 | ** Additionally, Ian Starshine (Haley's father) raised his little girl in a WretchedHive and taught her to lie at ''every opportunity'' whenever asked about herself. He's so paranoid he's incapable of taking people at their word and will invent elaborate scenarios which justify his ridiculous position and seems to totally believe them. |
| 285 | * In ''Webcomic/TinasStory'', Tina's stepfather, Stan, confesses to her that [[spoiler: he is her biological father]]. The story Tina had been told her whole life - [[spoiler:that her mother had been raped by a human]] - was a lie they told to cover the fact that [[spoiler: Georgette, Tina's mother, was underage when she became pregnant]]. Georgette eventually started accepting that lie as truth and developed a deep hatred of humans as a result. Stan confesses this because Tina is [[spoiler: engaged to and pregnant by a human male]], and Stan didn't want that lie hanging over [[spoiler: Tina's marriage or her children's lives]]. |
| 286 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': While initially Duane went along with his younger plats' claims that Duane still hadn't "lost a lad" after [[spoiler:Jon]]'s death to appease and keep their spirits up over time he [[https://unsoundedcomic.tumblr.com/post/666854890530881536/hmm-i-took-duanes-expression-at-the-time-as-him started believing it himself.]] This is part of why reexamining the memory with his new mind which won't let him gloss over things and let things fade into the fog of memory like a human mind sets him spiraling. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 290 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Martin, [[spoiler:Finn's biological father]], puts up a front of being a friendly and adventurous hero like Finn, but is actually a self-absorbed deadbeat and ConMan who will [[LackOfEmpathy gladly abandon people to terrible fates if he thinks they're not worth the trouble of saving]]. Yet he seems to [[LostInCharacter genuinely believe in his own cover identity as a hero]], claiming to be a good guy even when directly confronted with evidence to the contrary and [[SmallNameBigEgo seeing good fortune as a personal reward from the gods for his bravery]]. |
| 291 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In the penultimate episode, "All In", Marcy nearly falls for this as [[spoiler:she nearly loses herself in The Core's [[LotusEaterMachine created fantasy]] of Anne and Sasha willingly wanting to do whatever she wanted, despite the two of them never showing any real interest to her passions before. This disconnect makes Marcy realize something was dangerously wrong]]. |
| 292 | * Master Shake of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' is a CompulsiveLiar and also has a loose grip on reality. Often he'll make up lies for his own benefit, then start acting as if they were true. In "Bus of the Undead", he completely makes up a story about how the school bus parked outside the Aqua Teen's house is "a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent reverse vampire]]" and "possessed by the ghost of {{Dracula}}," because he was watching ''Assisted Living Dracula'' at the time. Despite the fact that this is entirely his own invention, he proceeds to operate throughout the rest of the episode as if everything he made up was real, to the point where he runs screaming back into the house after a failed attempt to "drive this stake deep into the heart of the crankcase of the vampire bus." |
| 293 | * ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': |
| 294 | ** In Season 1 Mr. Peanutbutter stole credit from [=BoJack=] for the Hollywoo Heist. By the next episode he seemed to genuinely believe he did it. |
| 295 | ** In Season 6, Mr. Peanutbutter becomes "the face of depression" across America when he claims to have depression after a public "incident" where he was supposedly DrivenToSuicide. Though that was because Princess Carolyn pushed him in front of a moving car, which was going maybe five miles per hour. In any case, the driver saw Mr. Peanutbutter in plenty of time, and stopped before their car even touched him. After going on a long tour for depression, Mr. Peanutbutter seems to genuinely believe he's depressed, and that his happiness is just a mask. And it ''sort of'' is already, but not the way he thinks it is. |
| 296 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Bunny Ruckus, Uncle's mother, raised Uncle Ruckus to believe he's white and adopted despite that Uncle is her biological son and he's born black and never had a terrible illness. However, due to Bunny's broken mind and years of abused that she starts believing her own lies and this lead Uncle to believe her and believer he's white despite he's not. |
| 297 | * Trevor Belmont from ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' comes to this conclusion regarding the bishop of Gresit, who genuinely thinks getting rid of the Speakers will make Dracula's forces go away. Said bishop is the one responsible for the entire situation as he accused Dracula's human wife of being a witch and burned her at the stake. [[spoiler: It eventually becomes his undoing when the demons corner him in his church, He genuinely believed that, even after all he'd done, God was still on his side and would protect him from the demons. One of them, Blue Fangs, calls out the bishop on this, that he himself cast aside God with his lies before finally devouring the bishop.]] |
| 298 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': An interesting case that everyone can tell his bluster is full of bull... droppings, but [[Characters/TheDragonPrinceViren Viren]] seems to genuinely believe himself when he says his attempts to usurp the throne and to fear-monger the human kingdoms into waging war against Xadia is in humanity's best interest, but ''any time'' someone points out the holes in his logic, the fact that there is a better way, or points out how his grand plan ''conveniently'' gives himself the most power, [[CantTakeCriticism he reacts very poorly]]. |
| 299 | * PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?!": Webby, trying to bluff her way into an office, creates a complicated backstory involving an attempt to [[SavingTheOrphanage save a summer camp]], and one half of a locket. At a couple of points, she makes comments to Dewey that imply she now believes both the summer camp and the missing half of the locket are real. |
| 300 | ** Bradford, the main villain in Ducktales 2017 and the leader of F.O.W.L. believed he's not a villain and also believe adventuring is the problem and wants to rid the world of it; however, due to his own actions and hurting innocent people, he denies that he's a villain and also refuse to believe that adventuring isn't the main problem and he and the organization are the problems and they were the villains. |
| 301 | * ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': |
| 302 | ** May Kanker in her relationship with Ed. Although all the Kankers are Self-Proclaimed Love Interest, May actually seems to believe that she has a real romantic relationship with Ed. This reaches the point that on Valentine's Day she decides to dedicate a letter to him, and starts to cry when he rejects her. |
| 303 | ** ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'': While [[spoiler:Eddy's older brother is in fact a [[BigBrotherBully sadistic bully]] who relentlessly tormented him]], it's implied Eddy has been lying about [[spoiler: what a CoolBigBro he supposedly was for so long that he's actually convinced himself of it]]. It would certainly explain why [[spoiler:he was so eager to find his brother's place to protect him from the other cul-de-sac kids that he seemingly [[DidntThinkThisThrough never considered the possibility]] that his brother would simply beat him up instead.]] |
| 304 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E5FearOfABotPlanet Fear of a Bot Planet]]", it has been so long since the Robot Elders actually encountered a human that they can no longer distinguish between actual facts about humans and the absurd anti-human propaganda they've made up to draw attention away from the planet's real problems (including the Elders' self-admitted incompetence). Fry and Leela use this to their advantage to terrify them with outrageous threats and escape. |
| 305 | --> '''Fry''': Stay back, or I'll breathe fire on you!\ |
| 306 | '''Leela''': He'll do it, he's crazy!\ |
| 307 | '''Robot Elder:''' Can they really breathe fire, or did we make that up?\ |
| 308 | '''Robot Elder 2:''' Gee, I can't remember anymore. Though it might just be from that stupid movie. |
| 309 | * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' has the titular Irken invader frequently fall into this, as his SmallNameBigEgo means that whenever something goes awry, he'll come up with some sort of excuse about how things are still going according to plan. And nine times out of ten, he'll end up forgetting that he was lying through his teeth and believe that he's just that brilliant. |
| 310 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Starlight Glimmer preached the idea that one didn't need their Cutie Mark to be happy. When she was exposed as a {{hypocrite}}, she still maintained her beliefs. The FreudianExcuse revealed at the end of Season Five would show why she had more than proper reasoning to believe this. |
| 311 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Hollow Mind" shows this trope through visual metaphor. [[spoiler:When Hunter and Luz end up trapped in Belos's mind by accident, they land in an ornate hallway lined with heavily stylized paintings depicting Belos as an almost Christ-like figure saving the Boiling Isles from the horrors of wild magic. Luz notes that this looks nothing like Willow's mindscape, which was a lush forest with very realistic paintings, but Hunter brushes it off in favor of fawning over the paintings. However, as the two of them are attacked by the Palisman beast, they wind up crashing through one of the -- apparently paper thin -- walls and falling into Belos's ''actual'' mindscape, a dark, gloomy forest of dead trees, with memories depicting him as the ruthless, lying, genocidal maniac he truly is.]] |
| 312 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Cootie Gras" had Mojo learning that the girls fear [[GirlsHaveCooties cooties]] and using their [[ThePigPen slovenly classmate]] Harry Pitts to scare them off so he can take over Townsville. The only problem is he starts to genuinely believe the cooties are real and uses the kid in a trap to defeat the girls. All it does it get them to realize the truth. The girls leave Harry CoveredInKisses and fly off to defeat Mojo. |
| 313 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': |
| 314 | ** Angelica usually torments the younger babies by lying to them about some mundane thing to make it seem terrifying. Correspondingly, her [[LaserGuidedKarma comeuppance]] often involves circumstances making her think she was right. In "Rhinoceritis!", after tricking Chuckie into thinking a disease she made up is turning him into a rhino, a horn-shaped bump on her head, along with gray-colored scabs on her legs, leads her to think that ''she'' has contracted "rhinoceritis". |
| 315 | ** "Chicken Pops": After all the babies come down with chickenpox, Angelica convinces them that they'll all turn into actual chickens. By the end of the episode, she herself has contracted the pox, and when an egg falls into her car seat, she freaks out and believes that she's turning into a chicken herself. |
| 316 | ** In the episode aptly titled "The Sky is Falling", she tried to convince the babies that the sky is falling, and ends up believing it herself after a stray tennis ball falls on her head. |
| 317 | ** "Hand Me Downs": Stu and Didi give Tommy's old toys to Dil, and Angelica tells Tommy that once his parents give all of his old stuff to Dil, he'll disappear. In the end, Susie explains that a person doesn't disappear from giving away hand-me-downs. Angelica [[TemptingFate expresses her thankfulness on being an only child, and thus gets to keep all of her stuff]]. But then Drew comes by and tells her that he and Charlotte have decided to give all of her old stuff to Tommy. This causes Angelica to scream in fear that ''she'll'' disappear once her parents give all of her old stuff to Tommy. |
| 318 | ** "Down the Drain": After an incident where Tommy accidentally loses one of his toys down the drain, Angelica scares Tommy and Chuckie by saying they could suffer the same fate. Throughout the episode, they try to find ways to get out of it, which includes flushing anything bath time related down the toilet. Ironically, she accidentally flushes her own doll, Cynthia, down the toilet. The plumber recovers it, but the doll is ruined. |
| 319 | --->'''Angelica''': It's true! It's true! You can get sucked down the drain! |
| 320 | ** In "Family Reunion", Angelica tells Tommy that at family reunions, the parents trade kids and don't trade them again until the next reunion. Later, one of the Pickles' relatives at the reunion tells Angelica "I'm gonna take you home with me!", resulting in Angelica thinking this to actually be true. She even lampshades this later on. |
| 321 | --->'''Angelica''': I thought I was making it up... |
| 322 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 323 | ** An episode involves Jimmy coming up with a gay fish joke. Cartman was lying on the couch the entire time and at first, he claims both he and Jimmy made it up together. Eventually, he starts claiming he was the only one who wrote the joke while Jimmy was the one on the couch, and each time the story is told, he adds an increasingly outlandish event to it, such as Cartman fighting off a dragon while he wrote the joke. Though the lies get increasingly hard to believe, the show implies that Cartman really does believe them. |
| 324 | ** In "Jewpacabra", Cartman spreads vicious rumors about a Hebrew-based monster attacking at Easter. Somewhere along the way, Cartman starts to believe his own story, hiding in fear of being attacked. |
| 325 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The episode "I'm With Stupid" has [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick come up with a plan to make Patrick's parents believe that [=SpongeBob=] is a complete idiot so that Patrick will look smarter by comparison. Unfortunately, Patrick takes it too seriously and soon ends up believing that he truly is a genius and [=SpongeBob=] really is dumb. [[spoiler:The twist ending of the episode reveals that Patrick's visiting parents weren't really his parents at all and were a pair of total strangers who forgot that they don't have a son.]] |
| 326 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', Knuckles starts bragging that [[SelfServingMemory he defeated Eggman by himself, won over the girls, and was elected governor while Sonic cowardly ran away]]. When everyone points out that's not how it happened, he brushes them off and starts thinking up his acceptance speech as governor. |
| 327 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': Shredder's NeverMyFault personality is due to the fact that he truly believes he has done nothing wrong and everything that happened to him (and Karai) is Splinter's fault and not his own. Taken to ludicrous extremes in "The Super Shredder," where he rants at Splinter for supposedly turning Karai against him and brainwashing her, which is ''exactly'' what Shredder has done her entire life, and in a more literal sense with [[PuppeteerParasite brain worms]] a season before. He goes so far as to swear that he ''saw'' Splinter kill Tang Shen with his own eyes. |
| 328 | [[/folder]] |
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