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{{Batman Gambit}}s in {{Literature}}.
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* In ''Literature/TheAgeOfInnocence'', May Archer is determined to end the "affair" (it's merely emotional, not physical, as everyone assumes) between her husband Newland and her cousin Ellen. So she tells her cousin that she's pregnant--even though she isn't certain that she is--knowing that her cousin will react appropriately. Sure enough, Ellen cuts all ties to Newland and flees to Europe. Later, as Newland hints at leaving May to pursue Ellen, May tells ''him'' she's pregnant, though by this time, she's sure that she is. What adds to the cleverness of the gambit is that May is consistently presented as superficial and clueless, yet proves herself to be much smarter than anyone realizes.
* ''Everything'' that happens in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'' from the first page onwards turns out to have been [[spoiler: staged by the gods Loki and Odin -- [[StevenUlyssesPerhero a.k.a. Low Key Lyesmith and Mr. Wednesday]] --]] right up to, and including, the ''war'' between the old and new gods.
* The plan to capture [[spoiler:David]] in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' relies entirely on him behaving the way they expect, [[spoiler:as well as him not realizing that Tobias is still alive]]. At various points, he could have broken character and foiled the plan, but he never does. Marco later attempts this in order to thwart the two Vissers, but this one doesn't go quite as well.
** Frequently, the kids pull these gambits on Visser Three, usually due to the Visser's reliability in being a pretentious, arrogant, short-tempered, narcissistic {{jerkass}}. Also, these plots are usually suggested by Cassie.
* For ''Literature/ArseneLupin'', the ''Hollow Needle'' mystery was pretty much all a Batman Gambit at the expense of the young amateur detective Isidore Beautrelet. Numerous others happen throughout Lupin's adventures but this is pretty much the biggest one.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl''
** The title character begins and ends his encounter with the [=LEPrecon=] in the first book with a pair of Batman Gambits, first exploiting the predictable nature of the magic-restoring Ritual to catch a fairy at their weakest moment, then using the regulations of the organization to maneuver everything into place for his escape.
** Also in the first book, [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Cudgeon's]] idea to send a troll into the manor -- if any of the humans call for help, [[MustBeInvited it counts as an invitation]], and the LEP can charge in, save Holly, mind-wipe everyone, and be home in time for tea. This one ''doesn't'' work, as Butler immediately works it out, tells everyone to keep their mouth shut, and then single-handedly beats the troll in melee combat.
** In ''The Arctic Incident'', Foaly manages to bait one of the BigBadDuumvirate into explaining how he plans to backstab his partner, because he knows he loves to brag.
** Artemis pulls it off again in ''The Opal Deception'' -- he has Mulch secretly move Opal's explosives into her ship's radio-proof hidey-hole, and steal the truffles that were originally there. Then tells her he stole both items, baiting her into chasing him away from the intended detonation area [[HoistByHerOwnPetard and then blowing herself up]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov
** ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': Hari Seldon sets up [[LongGame centuries worth of plans]] in advance, [[PrescienceByAnalysis using statistics]]. The actions taken by his Foundation on Terminus are dictated by the starting conditions (conditions that he arranged). Every so often, a "Seldon Crisis" occurs, where there is only one possible action that the Foundation can take, because any other action would result in their destruction. Subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:he actually left behind a secret Second Foundation to force Terminus back onto his predictions if they began to deviate]].
** ''Literature/DavidStarrSpaceRanger'': Hector Conway tricks David Starr into going to Mars by arranging for him to inspect the Martian food while it's on the Moon’s customs office. By admitting to David that he also has people inspecting the Martian foods at the Martian customs office, before being shipped to the Moon, he ensures that David tries to outthink him by going to Mars instead.
** ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndThePiratesOfTheAsteroids'': Lucky Starr repays his uncles for trying to trick him in the previous adventure by convincing them to build an autonomous mapping vessel and fixing it with a booby-trap for when the pirates take it to their base. But what he actually does is sneak aboard it and try to join the pirates himself, being fairly certain that the pirates would accept his word about not being aware of the trap. (He was mostly right [[spoiler:except the Boss [[YouRemindMeOfX recognized]] who he was]].)
** "Literature/MotherEarth": A team of Earth's psychologists design the Pacific Project, a course of diplomatic actions based on the psyche of the Outer Worlders. Each step of the plan brings the Outer Worlds closer to declaring war on Earth:
*** Earth leaked (fake) news of the Pacific Project to Ion Moreanu of Aurora, one of the few people sympathetic to Earth's plight. His government illegally arrests him, improving [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression the political position for independence from Earth]].
*** When the Outer Worlds have an interplanetary meeting, amoung their topics of discussion is Earth. Earth's government sends a public message decrying Aurora, Tethys, and Rhea for plotting economic and military sanctions against Earth, which provokes the delegations into unanimous action. They begin with [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression trade embargoes]] and increase the restrictions until almost zero trade occurs.
*** Life on Earth has become even more strained with the economic stressors, but the government has upheld the interstellar rules of trade. When they announce the capture of five Outer World smugglers, however, Aurora and the others are offended and [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression declare war]].
*** The war itself lasts only three weeks, with Earth quickly capitulating in the face of [[CurbStompBattle overwhelming force]]. This story ends while the psychologists behind the Pacific Project believe that by having Earth sequestered from the Outer Worlds, it will drive Earthmen to seek revenge, improving their robot and physical sciences while accelerating the [[PlanetOfHats mutations causing planetary quirks]] amoung the ex-colony worlds. They expect the Outer Worlds will respond to the increase in diversity by becoming less racist. The next story in this setting is ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', where [[spoiler:the psychologists turn out completely wrong. All fifty-one worlds have become more indolent in the centuries since and the Outer Worlds have [[PlanetOfHats developed planet-wide quirks]], but they've only become ''more'' xenophobic and isolationist]].
* This is basically how Gabriel Lafayette and [[spoiler:Easy Mather's]] scheme works in ''Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks'', and, according to the book, how psychics in general work, albeit on a far less grandiose scale.
* Basically everything ''Literature/{{Belisarius|Series}}'' does is either an IndyPloy or a brilliant Batman Gambit. One of his more notable? A half-year long military campaign [[spoiler: which he planned to ''lose'', so that the advancing enemy army would continue pursuing part of his army past where another part of his army was concealed, allowing them to slip away with a unit of [[HeelFaceTurn formed enemy troops]] the Malwa had assumed was annihilated the previous year, showing up in a completely different part of Persia disguised as ordinary prisoners of the "enemy unit", pull of a TrojanHorse attack that in one blow destroys logistical base of the Malwa in Persia while he sails off in a fleet of ships his wife had organized, resulting in the greatest military defeat in world history up to that point to a Malwa army 10 times the size of his... and ''not'' the one he was originally fighting. Because he wanted ''that'' Malwa army, its commander, and their "defeating" Belisarius" in battle to be considered the only good part of the whole situation by the Malwa]].
** His arranging of the [[spoiler:rescue of Shakuntala]] is another good example.
--->"Name ''any'' simple thing about his plan!"\\
"The simple thing at the heart of the general's plan, Valentinian, is the soul of Venandakatra. The entire plan revolves around that one thing. Which is, perhaps, the simplest thing in the world."\\
"He's got a point. A rather good one, actually. Irrefutable, in fact."
** The final novel shows a Batman Gambit's failure mode, although the bad guy waits far too long to realize it. [[spoiler:He has Link's army trapped in a completely helpless position, but instead of going in to defeat them, keeps them pinned in position with the hope they can survive so that Link is isolated from other Malwa forces while the critical battle is taking place somewhere else, Link being in that position because it assumed that Belisarius would be the one to be in command of the critical battle. Link finally twigs on to what is happening and has its current host body killed so it can occupy a new one back at the Malwa capital, which is precisely what Belisarius was trying to delay as long as possible.]]
* In ''Literature/TheBlackCoats'': ''The Invisible Weapon'' it's explained that the "Pay The Law" stratagem depends on the assumption that once someone is being set up to be framed, in a seemingly hopeless situation, that they will flee thus only making them look even more guilty. It's had a 100% success rate so far.
* In ''Literature/BlackLegion'', Abaddon reveals that he was the one to send the story's {{Herald}} Sargon to Falkion with news of ''Vengeful Spirit'' in the aftermath of Lupercalios battle. This led to Justaerin hatching the plan of stealing the ''Spirit'' to take Horus' body back, which in turn made him call on Khayon and Lhaer, who couldn't resist the temptation to steal the ship for themselves, which led to all three cooperating on finding the ship, which led them to ''Spirit'' and Abaddon himself. Just as the future Warmaster wanted.
* Lucretia from ''Literature/{{Bystander}}'' admits that most of her problems in the main storyline are a result of her novice attempts at this.
** To clarify, her actual gambits mostly work, but she didn't do much as far as planning for a way to stop a reprisal.
* Stephen Donaldson's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' are almost entirely guided by Lord Foul the Despiser. For example, the first book, ''Lord Foul's Bane'', involves a band of heroes fighting and defeating a mad sorcerer... thus allowing Foul to acquire a powerful artifact that the sorcerer had been guarding.
** The ''Chronicles'' are ''littered'' with Batman gambits. The above by Lord Foul the Despiser; Thomas Covenant's plan to give Lord Foul his ring, and thus the power to destroy everything and free himself, Covenant gambling on the assumption that Foul would kill him with it first, and thus leave Covenant in a position to absorb any attack it made on the Arch of Time with his own soul . . .
* Veri-Meri in ''Literature/TheCityWithoutMemory'' counts on his masters being too reckless to be careful in a fight and too proud to make allies, so that they would soon get killed or executed, leaving their abused and lonely sister the heiress, so that Veri-Meri, who had already done some WifeHusbandry brainwashing on her, would marry her and have a title and a castle. He comes extremely close to succeeding when the girl's brothers are really sentenced to death, he just doesn't foresee [[spoiler:the girl herself falling in love with a decent man, gaining some backbone and foiling all the plans]].
* Everything Tavi does in ''Literature/CodexAlera''. Ever. At all. He's this trope so through and through that other characters pull a Batman Gambit ''on the premise of [[CharacterTic Tavi]] pulling a Batman Gambit''.
** In a similar vein to how sometimes complete novices are the most dangerous to fight against, Tavi is predictable ''because'' he's unpredictable.
* Duke Edmund Talbot's battle strategies in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series tend to involve this, combined with never telling ''anyone'', even his closest aides and allies, his plans makes it nigh-impossible for his enemies to predict his actions. Which is the whole point.
* Speaking of Dumas, can we say ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''? Oh, yes we can. Dantes got imprisoned due to this trope, and after his escape, he lives and breathes it for the remainder of the book.
** [[spoiler: And it is certainly a series of these gambits since we also get to see several of his gambits run out of control and almost destroy some innocents he wasn't aiming at and had to protect. Resulting in a near [[HeroicBSOD breakdown and loss of faith]] at the end of the book and realizing that he really isn't [[GodInHumanForm Providence]]. Fortunately, his loyal Greek Princess bails him out with a love admission.]]
* In Jamie Malanowski's ''The Coup'', a US Vice President engineers one of the most brilliant government ousters ever seen. He plays '''everybody''' like cards in a deck and does it with such panache that you find yourself cheering for the MagnificentBastard.
* The solution to ''Literature/{{Curtain}}: Poirot's Last Case'' revolves around the sadistic [[spoiler:pseudo-murderer Norton]]'s reliance on the Batman Gambit to [[spoiler:manipulate those around him into committing murder]] through [[spoiler:deft analysis of their own psychological weaknesses]]. Poirot identifies that [[spoiler:Norton has evaded capture for years because he is not technically the culprit, only the author, of the crimes he engineers]]. The creepiness factor is increased when the reader's naïve first-person-narrative counterpart, Captain Hastings, [[spoiler:is himself manipulated to within an inch of committing a murder, without this becoming obvious to the reader]] as it happens.
* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Vetinari. As Moist reflects: "It was bad enough being a puppet, but then he arranges it so you pull your own strings."
** In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', [[spoiler:Vetinari specifically set up the deepest, darkest dungeon in his palace so that when he was inevitably thrown in there he'd be in perfect security. The locks are on the outside, but all the bars and bolts are on the ''inside''...]]
** Vetinari seems to mix these with other types of ThePlan. It's just about impossible to tell which type of gambit he's using in any given situation.
** In ''Literature/MenAtArms'', Vetinari seemingly gives into the demands of the Assassins' and Fools' Guilds by forbidding Vimes from investigating the theft and the string of murders that followed, but he knows full well that doing so will only cause Vimes to redouble his efforts. [[spoiler:It briefly backfires on him when he tells Vimes to [[TurnInYourBadge turn in his badge]] -- in the middle of a conversation with someone else, he realizes he likely [[HeroicBSOD broke Vimes's spirit]] instead of galvanizing it, because Vimes didn't put his fist in the wall after leaving.]]
** Vimes, too, particularly in ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld''. At one point he wonders whether Vetinari "felt this way ''all the time''".
*** Unlike Vetinari, Vimes [[spoiler: actually did know the future.]] Less of a Batman Gambit, more of a [[spoiler:Reverse Cassandra]].
** Lord Rust, in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', illustrates how spectacularly this can go wrong. %%How?
** On multiple occasions, Wolfgang's pack of werewolves in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' use this trope when they're hunting humans, anticipating their most likely escape route and then lurking in wait at the point where the quarry will believe they're safe and drop their guard.
** Death pulls this a few times with his granddaughter Susan. Usually because she can go places and do things that he cannot. See ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' and ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' for examples.
** Minor characters also invoke this trope, as when Glod Glodson from ''Literature/SoulMusic'' needs to speak to the Librarian, and asks some student wizards where "the monkey" is. In hope of seeing Glod pounded into pulp, they lead him there directly, encouraging him to act like a monkey when they get there. Instead, Glod respectfully tells the Librarian that the ''students'' just [[BerserkButton called him a monkey]]. And muses to himself that they'd have told him to push off if he'd asked about an ape.
*** Could actually qualify as a XanatosGambit, as helpful students would've corrected Glod's use of "monkey" to begin with, while the pranksters' response played into his trick.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' novel ''[[Recap/NewSeriesAdventuresEnginesofWar Engines of War]]'':
** The Doctor at one point surrenders to the Daleks, knowing fully well they aren't going to straight up exterminate him, but rather bring him exactly where he wanted to go.
** The Doctor pulls one on Karlax as well. Saving his dying body from space, leaving him in an unlocked Zero Room, and then putting in a failsafe that made sure that if someone else operated the TARDIS it'd centre in around him.
* In ''Double, Double'' / ''The Case of the Seven Murders'', part of the villain's plan depends on the detective identifying the pattern and convincing victim #5 he will be next, adding a number of omens to further frighten the superstitious victim, so that he would make out his will to the killer. Subverted in that the killer overdoes it, the victim changes his will again, then everything spirals out of control as another person figures things out, necessitating two more murders.
* Creator/BramStoker's original novel ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': After being driven from London, Van Helsing is able to predict Dracula's plan for retreat and develop a counter-plan based on the count's previous actions during his battles with the Turks centuries before.
* Steven Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' novels:
** ''Literature/{{Jhereg}}'' has an unusual take on this; the villain sets up a careful scheme designed to get the protagonist to ''[[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning kill him]]'', under circumstances which will start a bloody war between two noble houses he hates.
** Considering that Dragaera has [[PlanetOfHats an entire Great House]] of planners in the Yendi, this also gets used in several other books. Particularly notable are ''Literature/{{Yendi}}'' itself, where the Sorceress in Green and Sethra the Younger have been screwing with the internal politics of House Dragon to make sure the latter becomes Warlord when the new Emperor/Empress takes over, and ''Phoenix'', where ''the Goddess Verra'' uses Vlad in a plot to try to [[spoiler:calm the Teckla uprisings by starting a war with another country to get them to unite against a common enemy]]. The latter didn't work out very well.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novel "Dragons of Spring Dawning" Kitiara pulls one on Laurana, when she [[FlawExploitation uses Laurana's love for Tanis Half-Elven]] to manipulate the elfmaid into [[spoiler: [[LuredIntoATrap getting herself captured.]]]]
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Literature/BloodRites'', Mavra [[spoiler: sets up]] Harry by sending some underling Black Court vampires, including one he'd recognize as hers, to attack him and some associates. Harry calls up Murphy and Kincaid to go vampire-hunting, wiping out several lesser blampires and [[spoiler: one they ''think'' is]] Mavra, plus a homicidally-violent human she's reduced to TheRenfield. Only in the next novel does Harry find out that [[spoiler: Mavra had not only survived, but she'd arranged it all so that she could covertly photograph Murphy in the act of shooting the Renfield, thus acquiring blackmail material to use against either SI or, as it turned out, Harry himself.]] Had Harry called in more than just ''one'' SI member, [[spoiler: Murphy would have had enough fellow-cops on hand to dogpile the Renfield rather than shoot him, negating the photos' value.]]
** It's looked for a while like Harry's mother set one into motion before her death that would lead her [[spoiler:sons to find each other]], Harry to get useful information from her when it would most benefit him, and [[spoiler:the downfall of the vampire who killed her]]. It could also be said that Gentleman Johnny Marcone Batman Gambits off Harry's predictable hero tendencies.
** Harry uses one against the BigBad in ''Literature/TurnCoat''. He goes out of his way to make a huge production of inviting [[spoiler: the Senior Council]] to a fight. Since this is so archetypal Dresden, nobody, including his mentor, even considers the possibility that he might have something else planned. He relied on the fact that [[spoiler: the traitor]] couldn't resist the chance to get so many of his enemies in one place so he could eliminate them in one stroke. Harry would have been in serious trouble with a whole lot of people if the gambit failed. [[spoiler: It didn't]].
** The award for best Batman Gambit, however, surely goes to [[spoiler:Martin]] in ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', who manipulated Harry, Susan, ''and'' the Red King into position to [[spoiler: allow Harry to hijack the Red Court's genocide spell and instant-kill their entire population]]. Also a [[spoiler: ThanatosGambit]].
** If Mab's talking to you, you're probably part of her latest BatmanGambit. Figuring this out [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow won't help you]].
*** Likewise, if it's [[spoiler: Nemesis-infected Maeve]]. Or, usually, Lea. Or, ''always'', Odin.
** The White Court's entire internal culture is ''built'' out of this trope. White Court vampires, being weak compared to other supernatural forces out there, actually consider it a loss of face to do something directly. Tricking others into doing things for them is not just the preferred, but the only acceptable, way to get things done.
** ''Literature/SkinGame'': [[spoiler:It turns out the entire book was one arranged by Mab, Marcone and Hades to get revenge on Nicodemus for what he did in ''Literature/SmallFavor''.]] And it goes off ''spectacularly'', assisted by some unexpected events.
* Nearly everything that comes out of the Bene Gesserit from Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', either on an individual or a planetary level, is some form of Batman Gambit, but the Baron Harkonnen proves just as capable of executing one of his own; the course of action that the Duke Leto took to gain Arrakis, which eventually killed him, was the result of the Baron's successful Batman Gambit against him.
** The Bene Gesserit also throw in a heaping helpful of CrazyPrepared. They set up the Missionaria Protectiva to seed planets with a specific belief system, so that if necessary a Bene Gessirt could use the myths and prophecies to set up their own Batman Gambit as needed.
** And the Baron's plan only worked because Yueh was executing his own Batman Gambit, knowing the Baron would want to gloat over the Duke's capture gave him the opportunity to equip the Duke with a tool to assassinate the Baron. Plans within plans indeed.
* Cathy in ''Literature/EastOfEden'' has a gift for seeing people's weaknesses and the sociopathy needed to manipulate them. It's a repeated theme through the book that she'll mention an idea, it will spread and become other people's beliefs, but no one will remember it originated from her. (e.g.: The minister who committed suicide had trouble in Boston, they should jar their own fruits at the whorehouse, etc.)
* In [[Literature/TheSecretGarden Frances Hodgson Burnett's]] 1901 novel ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17226 Emily Fox-Seton]]'', after the villain has shot himself, his abused wife admits to the heroine that he did not commit suicide. While he gave his wife her daily beating, her generally omniscient ayah, knowing from experience that he would afterward go to toy drunkenly with his unloaded pistols, quietly reloaded them.
* ''Literature/EmilyTheStrangeTheLostDays'': An unusual kind is used by the founder of Blackrock, Emma Lestrande. Before she died, Emma arranged for her as yet unborn great niece (Emily) to inherit what she owned, but that Emily would have to take possession secretly. She knew that her grand niece would be super smart and have to hide her mind from a boy who would not be born until four years after her grand niece's birth (thus four years after her own death). She also arranged for a then thirteen-year-old boy to get some money to buy his way onto the City Council when he was old enough and to assist her great niece when she showed up.
* There are a number of examples of Batman Gambits within Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/EndersGame'' and its sequels. Most of these are done by the protagonists, though one antagonist, Achilles, becomes well known for these. In the final battle of ''Literature/EndersGame'', Ender makes use of the enemy's dual expectations, that no one would ever kill a queen and that humans are rational and will try to survive any battle, as well as the fact that the enemy is distracted trying to manage all of its ships, in order to slip some fighters in close to the planet and destroy both it and the enemy fleets in a single blow. This is a fairly convoluted set of circumstances, all of which are needed for the plan to work, and so it does come near being a GambitRoulette.
** Subverted at the end of ''Literature/ShadowPuppets'': the super-intelligent Bean correctly intuits that Achilles has him marked down for a Batman Gambit, and [[spoiler:asks himself what he (Bean) ''wouldn't'' be likely to do. The answer: ignore every negotiating ploy of Achilles's, walk up to him, and [[MundaneSolution pop a cap in him]] -- which he does.]]
* K. J. Parker's ''Engineer'' trilogy is one big gambit by the title figure, [[spoiler: who manipulates nations just so he can go home to his wife and child.]] Arguably a GambitRoulette, except that he made use of luck, but could have gotten by without it; "it'd have taken longer and needed a lot more effort, but [he] would have got there in the end."
* Creator/GKChesterton's ''Literature/FatherBrown'' story "The Sins of Prince Saradine": Saradine has two enemies. One is the son of a man he killed, who lacks legal proof and thus is hunting Saradine to kill him personally. The other is the Prince's twin brother, who has proof of the murder and is using it for blackmail. He then gives everything he has to the blackmailer, and informs the other of his location. The avenger kills the blackmailer and willingly accepts execution thinking he's revenged himself on Saradine.
* ''Literature/ForeverGate'':
** The plot opens with one; Hoodwink's plan to save his daughter begins with convincing the judge and the crowd that he is the 'evil user' that committed the crime instead of her.
** Later on Seven insists that Hoodwink is the victim of one: [[spoiler: The Users tell him to cross the Forever Gate by climbing the wall. Seven tells Hoodwink that they were expecting him to fall or freeze to death because that is only way to cross the ''true'' Forever Gate.]]
* In the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''His Last Command'', [[spoiler: Gaunt wanted the inquisitors and senior commissars to learn about the Chaos portals, so he deliberately acted in a suspicious manner that Ludd would report.]]
* ''Literature/GhostRoads'': In ''The Girl in the Green Silk Gown'', [[InvincibleBoogeyman Bobby]] negating Rose's PowerTattoo with Dana's blood makes her vulnerable to him again, so she goes to the routewitches for help, who tell her to [[spoiler:become incarnate and "die"]] to reverse it. It turns out he knew she would do that, and [[spoiler:blackmailed the family overseeing her incarnation]] to make her [[spoiler:stay alive, and even more vulnerable to him]].
** And then it's revealed that [[spoiler:he enlisted Laura's help]] ''from the beginning'', knowing that Rose would [[spoiler:ask her for help if she got away from Bobby]], and the only reason she survives his EvilPlan is [[spoiler:she's able to convince Laura to do a HeelFaceTurn]].
* [[HighPriest High Priestess]] D'ol Falla does this in the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy''. Her whole plan to free the people of Erda, trapped underground for centuries, hinges on three young priests not letting the power and glory of their position keep them from feeling basic human decency.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' has some insurgents deliberately letting ONI learn of their nuclear weapons stockpile so that they can set a trap for the Spartans. It almost works too, if not for [[spoiler: the insurgents not knowing about Kurt's near-prescience]].
** In ''Literature/HaloShadowOfIntent'', the Prelate wishes to kill his foe the Half-Jaw, but his light starship is no match for his opponent's enormous assault carrier. So the Prelate hatches a plan to even the odds step by step. First his starship attacks several peaceful colonies, so Half-Jaw will be enraged and come at him guns blazing. Next he lures the assault carrier to battle at a planet with an unstable star, with its magnetic storm wreaking havoc on the carrier's shields and weapons. Despite this, the Half-Jaw's ship still has the upper hand, [[spoiler:but the Prelate has just enough an opening to get his ship close so he and his soldiers can board the carrier and try to hijack it for themselves. Unfortunately for the Prelate, the carrier's defenders successfully wipe out his entire force]].
* Subverted in "Literature/TheHareAndThePineapple". The animals think the pineapple is trying to make them look like fools, with them being expected to cheer on the hare, who would then lose to the pineapple. So, they try to beat the pineapple by rooting for it, instead. The race comes, and...turns out the pineapple can't even move, so it had no big plan at all.
* In Creator/JKRowling's ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': [[spoiler:Riddle]] attacked four students, including one of Harry's best friends, and then kidnapped his best friend's little sister and future LoveInterest Ginny Weasley to make Harry go into the Chamber, because he wanted to meet the boy who had defeated his future self, and talk to him. Oh, and kill him too.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': when Voldemort arranged for Harry to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, what he wanted was not to get him killed in the process, as everyone thought. He wanted Harry to survive all the tasks and win the Tournament, so he could kidnap him and use his blood to regenerate his body. There's also one Batman Gambit that fails: [[spoiler:fake-Moody]] surreptitiously gives Neville the information Harry will need to pass the Second Task, assuming that Harry will ask help from ''everyone''. However, Harry doesn't, so [[spoiler:fake-Moody]] has to find another way of making that information reach Harry.
*** Not in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the movie]], where Neville willingly gives the info to Harry. ([[PragmaticAdaptation Because it not only shortens the plot, but makes Dobby's presence even less necessary.]])
*** What's also worth noting is that fake-Moody's plan goes wrong in several instances, yet still works. Mostly, this is because Harry isn't as bothered about winning as would be expected from your average Triwizard competitor - he lets Cedric know about the dragons, takes time to try and help the others in the lake challenge, and goes back for Fleur (unsuccessfully) and Cedric (successfully) when Imperius Cursed-Krum is attacking him; if Cedric had been ultra-competitive rather than willing to let Harry take the Cup, the whole plan would have failed. In a minor case, fake-Moody didn't expect Hagrid to show Madame Maxine the dragons (therefore eliminating Harry's advantage over Fleur).
*** Some things worked out for Voldemort which weren't part of the plan at all. It presumably wasn't part of the plan for Harry to be distracted by thinking Karkaroff was this year's bad guy, and it ''certainly'' wasn't part of the plan for Ludo Bagman to favour Harry out of a need to pay his gambling debts.
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Voldemort creates a false vision to trick Harry into believing he has Sirius trapped in the Hall of Prophecy, correctly guessing Harry would go to rescue him, finding the Prophecy instead, which Voldemort's Death Eaters could then steal. Previously, however, there is another failed attempt: Voldemort first just shows Harry where the Prophecy is, believing his curiosity would make him go and get it, but Harry actually ''doesn't know anything'' about it, so he doesn't even know what he's seeing.
*** Hermione pulls one on Umbridge towards the climax. It takes some real skill to talk a ministry-trained teacher into accompanying two enemy students into the woods alone at night, but Hermione gets Umbridge to do it with a rather clever lie, and soon enough, Umbridge is out of their hair.
** Harry himself pulls off one of these in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'': when Ron is having self-esteem problems that get in the way of his Quidditch performance before the first match of the year, Harry makes Hermione and (with her unknowing help) Ron believe that he spiked his pumpkin juice with luck potion, just by trying to "hide" the little bottle, and pointing out some lucky coincidences. Ron, believing that nothing can go wrong that day, plays spectacularly, and ''then'' Harry reveals that [[MagicFeather he did it all by himself]]. However, it leads to a row between Ron and Hermione that Harry didn't foresee.
** Basically everything Dumbledore does is part of two schemes: one of these, [[spoiler:training Harry and keeping him alive "so that he can die at the right moment"]] is successful. The other one -- luckily -- fails: [[spoiler:a Batman Gambit that would let him die undefeated so the Elder Wand would lose his power, but Draco disarms him, winning the Wand's allegiance. This makes it possible for Harry to become its true Master later and use it to defeat Voldemort]]. No wonder the last chapter is called "The Flaw in the Plan".
* In Juliet Marillier's ''Literature/HeirToSevenwaters'', the plot is structured around a quest to retrieve a missing baby which turns out to be [[spoiler:engineered by the villain to lure his son into a trap, since he knew that the kidnapping would make the baby's older sister go after him, and that the son would accompany his love interest]].
* ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'':
** Annabeth convinces [[spoiler:Arachne to weave a giant Chinese finger trap, then go inside it, by appealing to Arachne's ego.]]
** Double subverted. Percy tricks Phineas into giving up the location of Alcyoneus' lair, but it involves using himself as blackmail against Gaea and gambling that she'll come through for him. It works.
* ''Literature/HiveMind2016'': A lot of Lucas's successes come from knowing exactly how someone will react. For example, when dealing with Glenna and Irwin at the start of ''Hurricane'', he works out how they will each react to various circumstances and uses that to separate them to protect Glenna and neutralize Irwin.
* ''Literature/AHoleInTheFence'': During a party, two shepherds called Basile and Sammy tell the main characters the story of "The Bridge of the Old Women". Intrigued, Grisón decides to visit the ruins of the Margelle -where, according the legend, there might be buried treasure- the next morning, and he finds Basile waiting for him. The shepherd explains he needed to have a private talk with Grisón, and he knew Grisón would want to explore the place after hearing the legend. When Grisón mumbles he could have come another day -or never-, Basile replies ''everyone'' knows he cannot wait. Grisón admits it is a fair assessment.
* This is done in the later ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels where Honor and her detachment are sent to do rear-area strikes to force Haven to redeploy their attack fleet to defend against her numerically inferior technologically advanced threat. They succeed, but unfortunately for Honor succeed so well they manage to trap her entire fleet. For the most part of the series, most naval commanders -- not just limited to Honor herself -- subvert this trope by heavily lambasting anyone who ''relies'' on the enemy doing what you expect them to do. In fact, they even refer to the need to deceive your enemy into thinking you're doing something when you're doing something else entirely, and many battles ended with the destruction of the enemy fleet because they fell into traps laid by their opponents pretending to do something else.
** Honor, teaching cadet officers, uses her own Batman Gambit victory over a [=StateSec=] armada at the prison planet Hades as an example of how such operations can fail. The cadets express admiration over her brilliant strategy of using her captured warship's thrusters to get into a position to ambush the enemy warships, thus avoiding detection which would have been inevitable had she used the ship's gravitational drive. Honor then has her fellow officer and friend Michelle Henke point out that if the Peeps had been paying attention to ''any'' other sensor system they had available other than the gravitational detectors, they not only would have seen her ship coming, they would have been able to trivially destroy it because without the drive operating, the ship's main defense, the gravitational wedges, would not have been operating and the ship would have been helpless. Honor notes it was only because of the desperate situation she found herself in that she even contemplated the idea.
* ''Literature/HorusHeresy'': Erebus pulls one on Horus in ''False Gods''. During a war council on Davin, Erebus interrupts Horus to tell him that the planet is no longer compliant but offers to discuss the matter in private (despite having brought it up in public). He informs Horus that the governor and one of Horus's allies, Eugen Temba, has fled to Davin's moon and asks what he will do to save his honor. Horus announces that he will lead a speartip thrust to the heart of Temba's rebellion. Ignace Karkasy later tells Garviel Loken that Erebus had made the best acting performance he'd ever seen. By playing on Horus's pride and honor, Erebus got him to walk right into his trap. He later plays on Aximand and Abaddon's love of the Warmaster to convince them to take him to the Serpent Lodge, where Erebus twists Horus to the service of the Ruinous Powers.
* Another Creator/TimothyZahn example comes from ''Literature/TheIcarusHunt''. Pilot Jordan [=McKell=] pulls off a pair to [[spoiler: out a murderer]] and [[spoiler: pull off a spectacular UndercoverCopReveal.]]
* The entirety of the Literature/IronWarriors short story "The Beast of Calth" is Honsou pulling one of these on the Imperial forces between him and his goal.
* Nobody does it like {{Literature/Jeeves|AndWooster}}. He plays a blinder at the end of ''Right Ho, Jeeves'', persuading Bertie to creep out at night and ring the fire bell, so that in the ensuing panic Tuppy Glossop's first instinct will be to rescue Angela Travers, and Gussie Fink-Nottle's to rescue Madeleine Basset, thereby rekindling their love. Jeeves's real plan is darker: he knows that the party will be unable to get back into the house, that the smouldering Aunt Dahlia will order Bertie to bicycle nine miles to fetch the key, that it will be their mutual exasperation with Bertie that will reunite the lovers... and, since he has secured the key beforehand and miraculously finds it shortly after Bertie has left and the lovers have made up, he ensures that the anger at Bertie will vanish -- after all, bicycling nine miles to no use has to be punishment enough. And, finally, this will be the ideal time for him to 'accidentally' burn Bertie's unsuitable mess jacket while ironing it. Head and shoulders, he stands above the rest.
* In ''Literature/JohnDevil'' (1862) by Creator/PaulFeval, how Henri Belcamp gets his final upper hand on Gregory Temple at Newgate. [[spoiler: Both of them come up with the same plan to free Richard Tompson (disguise him and switch places), but Henri knows Temple will use the same plan, so he makes sure he get there first and then trick Temple into tell him what he needs to know from him before using Temple's escape plan for himself]].
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos: [[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]]'': [[spoiler: Selen's coup]] relied heavily on his mark's paranoia. If she hadn't jumped at his bait, then ThePlan would have fallen apart before it started. He even thanks her for her help once she's at his mercy.
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', Aslan pulls a gambit on the White Witch when she wishes to execute Edmund for being a traitor (and to ensure he can't fulfill a prophecy against her) as the Deep Magic they both follow gives her that right. When Aslan convinces her to allow him to die in Edmund's stead, it invokes a clause in the Deep Magic that the magic will shatter the table and death will be reversed if an innocent is sacrificed in a traitor's stead. If the Witch had stuck with her original plan to kill Edmund, the prophecy would have been delayed, and the status quo of her rule over Narnia would have been ensured for some time. But in her greed to kill her greatest adversary, she ended up killing no one, and her hold on Narnia was broken.
* In ''Literature/LordOfTheNightSky'' Crane does this a lot, as befits a secret agent. Most notable when he plays up disbelieving Ted's revelation on what the Smoking Mirror Cult is up too, in order to get a better and more convincing explanation for analysts to confirm it.
* Stan Liddell, schoolmaster in ''Literature/TheMachineGunners'' by Creator/RobertWestall, tries to pull a Batman Gambit in order to see if any of his schoolboys are responsible for the theft of a working machine gun from a crashed German bomber. He tells them all to write an essay on their war souvenir collections, hoping that someone will let something slip. Chas [=McGill=] takes advantage of the ploy to divert suspicion from himself to rival collector Boddser Brown.
* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': Shuos Jedao's master plan. He used his military genius to become a hero, then murdered everyone at Hellspin Fortress, knowing that he'll be executed for it, but also knowing that the Kel Command will not let his genius go to waste. This would mean that they'd put him in the black cradle, and that he'll be called out of it whenever a Hexarchate-threatening crisis arises. This in turn would allow him to wait for the perfect moment to ''overthrow'' the Hexarchate, which is his plan all along.
* ''Literature/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'': When Shadow Gale is kidnapped by Puk Puck, Pfle needs to create an opportunity to have a chance at rescuing her. In order to do so Pfle first goes to Mana in the Inspection Department and tells her that she should probably be arrested for something she's done. Pfle then takes advantage of Mana's sense of justice to get her to investigate the Puk manor for Shadow Gale and Snow White. Rather than assuming Mana would manage to get them out, she counts on Mana's confrontation escalating to violence, which would then give the Osk faction the excuse they need to openly work against the Puk faction. Then Pfle has to convince Osk to let her participate in their operation as someone worth listening to. She accomplishes all of this while barely knowing anyone involved and missing a lot of details she'd normally be aware of due to her mindwipe.
* The short story "The Man at the Table" by C. B. Gilford features an unusual example of this trope. Byron Duquay is sitting at a card table, preparing for guests, when an escaped killer, Rick Masden, enters his home. Duquay convinces Masden to sit at the opposite end of the table for a drink. Masden demands money and the keys to Duquay's car. Duquay says he will give Masden neither, and then proceeds to tell him that if Masden attempts to get up with his knife, Duquay will upend the table on him and grab his own, larger knife. Masden is clearly less muscular than Duquay, and at a disadvantage in a physical fight. Masden quickly realizes that Duquay was expecting company, and that Duquay is trying to delay him until help can arrive, which Duquay admits calmly. They reach an arrangement where Masden will leave his knife behind and leave empty-handed. It is just then that the other guests arrive, and Masden is apprehended. [[spoiler: In a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome we learn that delaying Masden wasn't Duquay's real gambit. Bluffing him into thinking that he could and would fight Masden was. Duquay was paralyzed from the waist down, unable to stand. His wife had placed him in the chair earlier so he would feel like less of an invalid when playing cards with his friends.]]
* The central protagonist of ''Literature/TheMentalState'' has an extensive knowledge of human psychology and frequently uses it to exploit people. His favourite tactic is to turn people against their friends and leaders.
* Kelsier and his crew of ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' pulled off a terrific Batman Gambit. First, they tricked the noble houses of the main city of Luthadel into fighting each other so that they wouldn't be able to mount a unified defense against rebel forces. Then, Kelsier visits people throughout the city, establishing emotional connections to them, and building his image of a larger than life [[TheHero hero]]. To reinforce his legend, he mixes in tales of a legendary magical material, which he purports will allow to him to slay the [[BigBad Lord Ruler]]. To ''further'' reinforce this, Kelsier uses his [[FunctionalMagic magic]] to empower a common soldier. In secret, Kelsier gathers arms and armor for those in the city. Finally, when the army is distracted with the rebel army, thus drawing them away from the city, Kelsier produces a public spectacle in the city square and is promptly killed. But, you see, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning his death was part of the plan]]. Spurred by the death of their favored hero, the commoners of Luthadel rise up and depose the authorities, thus allowing the main heroine the opportunity needed to take out the BigBad. Which she does.
* In the ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'' novel ''A Taste for Death'', Modesty's plan for rescuing everyone from the villains depends at several points on specific villains reacting appropriately. To some extent this involves general predictions about obvious trends like Delicata preferring slow and amusing deaths for his enemies over just killing them outright, but it also involves specific predictions like getting [=McWhirter=] to let his guard down in a particular way at a particular moment.
* A fully-justified humdinger of one is pulled off in James P. Hogan's ''The Multiplex Man''. InAWorld TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture where East and West have exchanged ideologies, a terminally-ill scientist researching NeuralImplanting is trying to escape "The Green Curtain" and defect to the free East. But after a close-call with a SuperSoldier the corrupt American government created with his research, [[spoiler:he realizes he won't survive the night. So, he imprints ''himself'' in the super soldier's NeuroVault minutes before he dies. Once in the super soldier, he incinerates his corpse and send an encrypted communication to his allies detailing how create a LinkedListClueMethodology which will lead the super-soldier to a place where he can be retrieved from the soldier's NeuroVault. It works out perfectly because the super soldier is nothing more than a program, and thus the scientist is able to tailor the clues to be irresistible to it.]]
* The main plot of ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety and the Riddle of Ages'' is [[spoiler:basically one massive Batman gambit. The Ten Men are lured to the [=KEEP=] (Key Enclosure for Enemies of the Public) on the premise that they can break out their boss, Mr. Curtain, and possibly capture Constance in the process. They are also led to believe that both Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain have been poisoned by a serum of Mr. Curtain's invention and that the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society are there to deliver the antidote. In fact, the [=KEEP=] is secretly a trap to imprison them and neither Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain have been poisoned.]]
* Ermintr- erm... ''Daphne'' from Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Nation}}'' uses one to free herself from Foxlip and Polegrave and protect the titular Nation from them. In their captivity, she serves them mother-of-beer. Foxlip knows it might be poison, so he threatens to shoot her unless she drinks some too. Daphne does... after spitting in her cup and singing a [[AlternateUniverse Pelagic]] folk song about Air's four sons racing around his belly. She orders Foxlip to do the same, but he refuses on the basis of being above "savages" ([[SarcasmMode because he]] ''[[SarcasmMode hadn't]]'' [[SarcasmMode murdered an old man a few hours ago, don't be silly]]), drinks his mother-of-beer... [[spoiler: and dies. The mother-of-beer ''was'' poison, and Daphne ''did'' serve it to kill him. There was a chemical in human spit it reacted with to become ordinary, non-lethal beer, and the reaction time was the length of the folk song. Daphne exploited the fact that Foxlip ''would'' be too prejudiced to obey her if it meant following a Pelagic tradition]].
* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': The Childlike Empress sends Atreyu out on a quest to find a cure for her mysterious illness. It turns out that the Empress knew the cure (to be given a new name by an imaginative human) all along; the actual purpose of the quest wasn't to find the information, but rather to provide a long, harrowing adventure that would summon the savior, and make him sympathetic enough to Atreyu and Fantasia/Fantastica that he would give her a new name when the time came. The Empress also had a back-up plan in case Bastian was too reluctant to name her immediately.
* In ''Literature/OutlawsShadow'', [[VillainProtagonist Guy of Gisbourne]] is set up to reignite his feud with his classic enemy, Myth/{{Robin|Hood}} [[TheRival Hood]], by a single lie in a letter Guy is asked to read. Guy has a past animosity with Hood, and signals to TheChessmaster that he ''wants'' the target of his investigation to be Hood, while also being someone who has a tendency towards MurderIsTheBestSolution. Since TheChessmaster wants to foment chaos in the kingdom while the king is away, they put the lie in the letter, and it works like a charm… but [[GoneHorriblyRight too well,]] since Guy, who TheChessmaster personally cares about, puts himself in danger looking for the Hood.
* Depending on how you interpret it (and there are more than a few ways to do so), the plot of Milton's ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' could be one of these, designed to give humankind the knowledge of good and evil, knowing that Satan would try to mess thing up by doing the opposite of whatever [[MagnificentBastard he thought God intended]].
* Saint Dane in ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'' is a master Batman Gambiter; most of his plans are Batman gambits. In fact, he once pulls off a [[spoiler:'''double''' gambit: the characters '''realize that he's pulling one of these off, but that itself was what he wanted''']]!
* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsYouBelieveHer'', Robot Penny manages to raid [[spoiler:Mech's]] lair by flawlessly exploiting his mentality, both as a MadScientist and as a fan of her parents. As a MadScientist he takes trophies and doesn't regard an ArtificialIntelligence (such as herself) as a person. So, she lets [[spoiler:Mech]] deactivate her (to protect [[spoiler:the version of her recognized as the "real" daughter of her parents]], where he promptly [[spoiler:moves the seemingly-defeated robot into his lair, right next to the prize]]. She promptly breaks out with the prize of their fight, knowing the defenses were configured for intruders, not escapes. If more than one detail about [[spoiler:Mech's]] actions had been wrong, then even her backup plan would have had trouble.
* In ''Literature/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice'', a woman and her lover are tried for killing her husband. The prosecutor tries a Batman Gambit to get them to turn on each other by only putting one of them, the woman on trial. The woman's defense attorney then does a Batman Gambit of his own to get her from confessing everything and he gets her off on probation.
* ''Literature/ThePrince'': Machiavelli advises the Prince to keep this trick up his sleeve. When the people grow complacent and start to wonder what they need their ruler for, the Prince should [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor give them what they want]]. Let things fall apart just a ''little bit,'' and then when the people realize the error of their ways, swoop back in and fix things. The people are grateful, the Prince flexes his muscles, everyone wins.
* In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', main character [[TheHero Wade "Parzival"]] has to find a way to knock out the magical shield used by [[BigBad IOI]] to prevent passage into the castle that holds the gate to the Egg. Said shield is the most powerful in the story of OASIS, and pretty much impossible to destroy from the outside. [[spoiler:He uses some hacking to fake having a debt with IOI, who always force their debtors into indentured service. Once there, he uses a backdoor into IOI's intranet to give a supply bot orders to bring the most powerful bomb in inventory as close as possible to the wizard holding the shield up and detonate it at a certain time. Then, he calls every gunter in the game to help, correctly assuming that they would prefer [[JustForFun/OneOfUs his]] victory to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive IOI]]'s. It works.]]
* The first ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novel retcons Lister's acquiring of Frankenstein into one of these. In the series, he's simply dumb enough to bring a stray cat onto a spaceship against quarantine regulations, have his photo taken with it, and send it to be developed in the ship's lab. He gets caught and is punished by being put into stasis. In the book, depressed about losing Kochanski, and with four years to go before they reach Earth, he ''wants'' to be put into stasis. He researches the most minor crime that has stasis as a penalty, buys a showcat, and makes sure it's inoculated against everything (so he's not actually risking the crew). The photo ensures that he gets caught, but without the cat being caught and dissected.
* In one ''Literature/{{Relativity}}'' story, the Egyptian-themed-but-didn't-really-do-any-research supervillain Rune tries to bury the heroes by trapping them in a room that is slowly filling with sand from a broken hourglass. Black Torrent reminds Rune that a real ancient Egyptian would have used a water clock instead. So Rune changes the sand to water, hoping to drown the heroes, but they swim to safety instead.
* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Reynard is a master of these, and often comes out on top due to his ability to predict how both friends and foes will react.
** For example, in ''The Baron of Maleperduys'', [[spoiler: a major portion of his plan to defeat Drauglir relies on his confidence that [[TokenEvilTeammate Tybalt]] will inevitably betray them to the Calvarians.]]
* The absolute master in the ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' saga is TheStrategist Zhuge Liang, though he's also rivaled by fellow [[TheChessmaster chessmasters]] Sima Yi, Zhou Yu and Pang Tong. One could argue pseudo-villain Cao "That's ''exactly'' what I was thinking!" Cao also has his moments of Batman inspiration.
** And as for the classic example: the "Empty Fortress" strategy employed in the novel by Zhuge Liang when he had to defend a fort against Sima Yi: Zhuge Liang simply ''[[RefugeInAudacity opened the gates and played a zither on the wall.]]'' Naturally, Sima Yi suspected a trap and retreated, because... Oh, come on, it's Zhuge Freaking Liang! He's got to have a trap somewhere! [[spoiler: The fortress really was empty, and it only worked because Zhuge Liang ''knew that Sima Yi would be naturally suspicious of him.'']]
** Another incident is where Cao Cao is escaping from the Battle of Red Cliffs, and has to choose between a wider path and a narrow one, with smoke trails coming from the latter. Cao Cao chooses the ''obviously trap-laden'' narrow path. His logic? It's one of Zhuge Liang's tricks to keep him on the wide one. He's almost right: Zhuge Liang, ''knowing that Cao Cao would use that line of reasoning'', had set the ambush up on the narrow path.
** If the traditional tales are to be believed, Zhuge Liang goes so far as to do this to people ''on his side,'' including his lord Liu Bei's sworn brother, Zhang Fei. The legend goes that Zhang Fei believed that Liu Bei treated Zhuge Liang, an untested scholar, far too well above his own veteran generals. Zhuge Liang, hearing of this, asked Zhang Fei what could be done to prove himself. Zhang Fei, due to go to a city on business for a day, insisted that Zhuge Liang would be smart enough to predict his next three meals or be dismissed from Liu Bei's service. Zhuge Liang agreed, wrote down his prediction on the spot, and sealed it in a bag, given to Zhang Fei's sworn brother Guan Yu. Zhang Fei went on his task, and upon entering the city, thought that Zhuge Liang would know of his habit for meat and wine, and avoided it, instead eating a local childhood favorite of his, green onions wrapped in fried dough. The next day, he realized that Zhuge Liang would know where he had been raised and what he would have eaten in his youth, and decided to try and fool the strategist by wrapping the fried dough inside the onions instead. Concluding his business, dinner time came and while he was hungry, Zhang Fei again thought of the wager, and Zhuge Liang's cunning. Certain that he could win, he rushed back to Liu Bei's camp, where he found a feast waiting for his return, organized by Zhuge Liang. Zhang Fei tried to claim he'd already eaten, but Zhuge Liang asked Guan Yu to read the prediction.
---> ''General Zhang Fei will enter the city but will ignore meat and wine, as that is his normal way, and eat green onions wrapped in dough. The next day he will think to change and win the wager, and eat dough wrapped in green onions. General Zhang Fei will come back not having eaten in the city, and thus have no third meal at all.''\\
If Zhang Fei hadn't [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow overthought it]], or just been TheAlcoholic BigEater like usual, he would have won the bet easily.
** Cao Cao gets one himself at Wuchao granaries. First, Cao Cao undertakes the mother of all {{False Flag Operation}}s and burns down the food supplies of his rival, Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao responds by reasoning that Cao Cao will have focused everything on the raid, and that his main camp will be weak. So he sends out a force to take out Cao Cao's main camp and cut off the retreat of the raiding force, including Cao Cao himself. At this point, news reaches him that the defending garrison was victorious, and he adds the forces that were meant to reinforce it to the attack on Cao Cao's main camp. This was all according to Cao Cao's plan. The garrison had not held out: the messengers that told Yuan Shao that were Cao soldiers dressed in the stolen uniforms. Cao wanted the force attacking his main camp to be as large as possible: he had an ambush waiting for them and wanted to get as many enemies as possible. Two of Yuan Shao's best generals were forced to surrender when they were completely cut off from their leader.
* Baroness Orczy's ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' and its sequels are loaded with these, as Chauvelin uses the tactic (as an attempted {{plan}}) and the title character responds. The entire ending scheme in the original ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' relies on the French buying into their own anti-Semitic tendencies; this is usually dropped from adaptations, such as the musical.
* K.J. Parker's ''Literature/TheScavengerTrilogy'': Ciartan's war on the crows, which is symbolic of the several deep conspiracies which depend on getting inside the head of the enemy.
* In ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'', Luo Binghe he declares that he will take his time in razing the entire Cang Qiong Mountain Sect — sans Qing Jing Peak — to the ground, in hopes that during said time, Shen Yuan would be forced to show himself to stop that from happening. It works, since Shen Yuan intervenes just as Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge are about to clash, and Luo Binghe exposes him on the spot.
* Henry organizes one of these in ''Literature/TheSecretHistory'', in his plans for Bunny's murder and, later, the main characters' staying out of jail. This involves relying on his knowledge of his friends' habits and weaknesses to get them to do exactly what he wants them to do. He also uses this to lay the blame on other people, like Cloke Rayburn--but Richard is horrified when he finds out that [[spoiler: Henry came very close to giving his name to the FBI.]]
* The Moth-kinden of ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt'', being an entire race of [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bastards]], pull a rather nice one of these. The inhabitants of Tharn know TheEmpire's going to annex them at some point; not being a warlike people, they gamble everything on getting one particular man installed as Governor, as just about the only Wasp who's [[spoiler:Inapt -- like all Moths. Their agents have already got to him and cut a deal: if the Moths teach him magic]], he'll let them get on with their lives as if the Empire had never even noticed them.
* Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Literature/SherlockHolmes often uses small-scale Batman Gambits to trap criminals or get information he requires. In the course of the stories, he does everything from plant false reports in the media, to put on disguises, to fake his own death, ''twice'', in order to solve the various cases he handles. He's even gone so far as to lie to and manipulate Watson and his clients if necessary, although usually not in a way that puts them in danger.
** Backfired in "A Scandal in Bohemia" when Irene Adler figured out what he had done and who he was.
** Many of his deductions are a sort of retroactive Batman Gambit: after the fact, he deduces the "only possible way" that characters could have acted and events could have played out. Any number of alternate possibilities always exist, but are never acknowledged.
*** Exception: "The Yellow Face". Throughout the story, Holmes follows a suspiciously obvious chain of reasoning, and the reader often figures out the solutions faster than him. The reason? [[spoiler: There are two possible solutions, and both Holmes and the reader always pick the wrong one.]]
* In the climax of ''Literature/SkateTheThief'',[[spoiler: Belamy begins casting a spell, luring in [[SuperMobBoss Hugo]] to close range before finishing off the magic: a forcefield that traps them together, giving Belamy a chance to surreptitiously use one of his [[TimeBomb most effective spells]] ''multiple times'' while taking a savage beating, culminating in a TakingYouWithMe victory, since he can't hope to match the vampire for brute strength and ferocity.]]
* The War of the Five Kings in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' was set in motion by a Batman Gambit set in motion [[spoiler:by Littlefinger. When Lysa Arryn comes to him asking for help after her husband Jon tells her that he is sending their son to be fostered at Dragonstone. He turns it to his advantage by having Lysa poison Jon, and send a raven to her sister in Winterfell accusing the Lannisters and implying that King Robert was next. Littlefinger does this knowing full well that 1). King Robert would appoint Ned Stark as Hand of the King to Replace Jon Arryn. 2). Ned would follow Jon Aryyn's trail and learn the truth of the parentage of Queen Cersei's childeren. 3). Ned handling the news in a hamfisted manner that he could use to lure him into a trap. Bringing the Starks and Lannister to war. The plan would have failed if Eddard had not followed the RedHerring. Or if ''anyone'' suspected Lysa.]]
* In "Literature/SorcererConjurerWizardWitch", Mycroft's plan to deal with the Great Enchanter Colonel Zenf is based on people doing certain things if they believe certain facts to be true. It proceeds pretty much exactly according to plan, despite the fact that when Zenf emerges, Mycroft's been dead for fifteen years, and his successors [[WeWouldHaveToldYouBut have no idea what the plan is]].
* In ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born]]'', Jim recalls a childhood incident in which he framed Smelly, the school snitch, for shoplifting. First, he bragged about his own shoplifting to his friends (which he used a fake school book for), counting on Smelly to eavesdrop and immediately take it to the authorities. Then, predictably, Smelly showed up to watch Jim get caught stealing candy bars, only for the store employees to find he had only a regular book and no candy on his person. Jim claimed that Smelly was the real thief, and when Smelly was grabbed, he dropped his book and candy bars fell out. Bonus points to Jim for using the distraction to test out a new device for stealing candy bars.
* In the ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'' novel ''Rough Beasts of Empire'', the [[spoiler: Tzenkethi]] manipulate Romulan politics so as to become an unofficial leading power in the Typhon Pact. The Romulans are the most powerful faction, but are currently led by somewhat hawkish leaders; this threatens the galactic stability seemingly desired by the [[spoiler: Tzenkethi]]. In order to "rein in" the Romulans without drawing attention to themselves or damaging the Romulans' actual strength (which serves the Pact well), they conspire to remove the current Romulan leader and install a Praetor they'd prefer be in power - all through subtle manipulation (and a few assassinations disguised as natural causes). This gambit is played out as Praetor Tal'aura works on her own; to reclaim the breakaway worlds of Donatra's Imperial Romulan State by [[spoiler: framing Donatra for a supposed attack on Ambassador Spock, then arresting her when she accepts an invitation to a diplomatic conference on Romulus]]. The latter gambit is playing into the former, as a reunited Romulan state benefits the Typhon Pact and thus is in the best interests of the [[spoiler: Tzenkethi]].
* In ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' Gary Seven realizes that not only is Khan the most dangerous of the supermen, he also knows that Gary Seven keeps tabs on the other superhumans. He also knows that at some point Khan will try to get his hands on the list. Rather than try to prevent this, he [[spoiler: adds the non-existent Ament to the list, then when Khan takes it by force he has Isis transform and wait for Khan to recruit her, allowing the two of them to subtly steer Khan away from world conquest and keep a close eye on him.]]
* In Creator/TimothyZahn's ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' books, this is the essence of most of [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn's]] strategies - he's very, very good at predicting his enemies. He can work out what species is leading an attack from the way they fly, and target his counterattack against their cultural or genetic blind spots. He sets up a power struggle within the New Republic just by understanding Bothan psychology. And he is able to understand the psychology of any species simply by studying their art. His [[TheWatson Watsons]] and {{Commander Contrarian}}s argue with him and his tactics until it really sinks in that he's ''just that good''. For all intents and purposes, he's basically [[RecycledinSpace Sherlock Holmes, military commander In Space!]] He's also the only villain in the Expanded Universe to anticipate the heroes' CrazyEnoughToWork tendencies - when the New Republic is given the choice between attacking a moderately defended Imperial planet and one of the Empire's biggest military bases, and gives every indication that they intend to attack the former, he predicts they'll attack the latter because they're used to doing crazy things the enemy won't expect. He's right. Everyone on the New Republic side is shocked.
** ''Literature/OutboundFlight'': Commander Thrawn of the Chiss Expansion Defense Fleet has three Corellians in custody, and he's learned about the Republic and how to speak Basic from them. He's got his eye on the nomadic Vagaari, a slave-taking people that's coming close to threatening his own people, and steals a gravity generator from them. His own people, the Chiss, are getting increasingly disapproving of him and his tactics. A Trade Federation taskforce shows up, he curb-stomps it and captures the remains, including many droids, and is convinced by the Trade Federation captain to stop Outbound Flight, a potential threat to his people. Even if Outbound Flight goes on, they may run into something vastly worse, letting the far-outsiders learn too much about the peoples closer to the center of the galaxy. What does he do?
** He causes one of the Corellians to fear that they are hostages. The Corellian steals a shuttle, unwittingly taking some Trade Federation battle droids, and flees into Vagaari hands. The Vagaari are pleased with the droids, lock the Corellian into HumanShield position with the other captives on the outsides of their ships, and head directly towards the Chiss base. They are brought out of hyperspace by the stolen gravity generator, which is already being used to pin down Outbound Flight. The Jedi on Outbound Flight get immediately threatened by the Vagaari, so they do a mind-whammy on them, carefully not touching the captives. The droids inside of the ship shoot the Vagaari high command, knocking out the Jedi who are in mental contact with them, while the droid starfighters buzz the ships, firing between the captives.
* ''Literature/RaiseSomeHell'': Solomon does this almost a thousand years before the plot. He knows that humans will contract their souls for demons, willing or otherwise, so he makes the only ritual [[spoiler: have a built in limiter, to give away as little of the human soul as possible]]
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' novella ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'': Lift's plan hinges on this. Knowing that Nale's in town, she stages a very public event that's implausible enough to attract his attention, making sure to show off a tell-tale sign of Radianthood to one specific person. She then hides near her bait's house and wait for Nale to come and interrogate them; and just like that, she found him and can now follow him.
* ''Literature/SymphonyOfAges'': In ''Rhapsody'', [[spoiler:Achmed]] pulls off several of them. The one that jumps to mind first is when he sends Rhapsody to [[spoiler: Lord Roland]] to try and negotiate peace. [[spoiler: Lord Roland]] is enamored and acts like a bit of an idiot to try and win Rhapsody, falling right into plan. [[spoiler: Achmed]] then gets the pleasure of explaining that mistake.
* In Creator/AlexandreDumas's ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', Milady de Winter's ability to pull off Batman Gambits is what makes her formidable -- if she's unable to carry out an assassination she can just get someone else to do it for her. Cardinal Richelieu is the story's specialist.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
*** Gandalf used one of these to distract Sauron from the true location of the One Ring, convincing him that Aragorn had the Ring and was planning to use it against him. Of course, the whole thing was a diversion to allow the hobbits to enter Mordor unnoticed.
*** This becomes the basis of the free people's entire strategy after [[ThereAreNoCoincidences Pippin looks into the palantír]], premised entirely on the assumption that [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Sauron would assume]] that his enemies would try to use the ring against him rather than try to destroy it.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''/''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': The Númemoreans march on Sauron with such a massive force that Sauron's minions flee and he's captured. Of course, being the master manipulator that Sauron is, he knows he can go from prisoner to king's advisor in only a few years and goad Ar-Pharazon into destroying himself and Númenor by feeding his pride, greed and stupidity. After being repeatedly told he is entitled to anything he wishes because he is the greatest king ever, hence he was being unfairly cheated from being deathless -as he deserves since he is the greatest king ever-, but he could become immortal by conquering Aman -which he is certainly capable of, being the greatest king ever-...Pharazôn is eager to declare war on adversaries whom he could never beat to reach something he could never get, and thusly he is tricked into attacking Valinor so Sauron could watch them die spectacularly. However, Sauron didn't anticipate that the Valar would lay down their power before Ilúvatar (God), and ask him for aid. Ilúvatar made the world round, made Valinor inaccessible except to certain individuals (namely the elves), and sunk Númenor into the sea. Sauron didn't even see it coming, and was swallowed under the ocean. When he emerged, he was severely weakened and could no longer take a pleasing form again.
* ''Literature/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'': Kyousuke relies on these to foil the plans of [[spoiler:the White Queen]], the main antagonist of the series. Because [[spoiler:the Queen]] is hopelessly in love with him ([[{{Yandere}} albeit in an extremely twisted fashion]]), he is often able to predict her behavior and exploit it. A good example is the end of the first volume, where he deliberately [[spoiler:summons the Black Maw That Swallows All, an EldritchAbomination that normally kills its own summoner. The Queen fights the Black Maw to the death ([[ResurrectiveImmortality though it doesn't last]]) to protect him]].
* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
** Miles Vorkosigan usually starts out with one of these, then rapidly devolves into {{Indy Ploy}}s. What makes him good is his amazing ability to convince people that he meant to do that.
** Miles's protege, Elli Quinn, in a "What would Miles do?" moment says: "Never do yourself, what you can con an expert into doing for you."
** Miles learned the lesson from an older, female counterpart Cavilo in ''The Vor Game''.
--->'''Cavilo:''' The key to strategy... is not to choose a path to victory, but to choose so that '''all''' paths lead to a victory.
** He furthermore learned from her that making all paths lead to victory only works so long as only one of those paths is taken, convincing him to use his strategy of only picking one stratagem at a time while making everyone believe that he has elaborate interlocking plans.
* The second book in ''Literature/WatchersOfTheThrone'' features a gambit by [[spoiler:Trajann Valoris, the Captain-General]], to get every High Lord in the Imperium working on the right side. [[spoiler:He deliberately withdraws into the Palace to make it seem like the reformists on the High Lords council have no support, emboldening the Imperium Eterna faction into revealing themselves openly.]] Then, knowing that Silent Sisters, led by Aleya, are going to [[spoiler:fight Imperium Eterna soldiers]], he sends Valerian (Aleya's FriendOnTheForce) after her, ostensibly to arrest her. In reality, he knows that Valerian will not stop Aleya and will in fact go rogue to aid her. This means he has [[spoiler:people in place to defeat Eterna]] while maintaining the appearance of neutrality.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' ends with one planned by [[TheSmartGirl Min]] or [[TheHero Rand]]: Rand drops [[AmplifierArtifact Callandor]] so that Moridin takes it and starts channelling the [[BlackMagic True Power]]. What Moridin doesn't know is that Callandor allows two [[GenderRestrictedAbility women]] to control the Power channelled through Callandor, which Moiraine and Nynaeve proceed to do. Rand then uses the [[MagicByAnyOtherName One Power]] and the [[HoistByHisOwnPetard True Power to seal away the Dark One]].
* In ''Literature/TheWishList'', Meg agrees to help Lowrie "burst Ball", knowing it will harm her celestial standing, because [[spoiler:she doesn't think he'll go through with it]]. And she's right.
* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': An evil WizardingSchool forces all its new students to race in heats through a lethal obstacle course for 'orientation,' and the students are explicitly allowed to fight and kill each other if they think that will help them come in first. Emily works out from her TricksterMentor Lauren's hints that her enemies have rigged the race matchups and arranged for her to get stuck in a heat full of rivals who will work together to kill her. Emily thus volunteers to run in the first heat instead of whichever heat she'd been assigned. Nobody expected that because going first is a massive disadvantage (if students in early heats finish the course, those in later heats will know what times they need to beat and may be able to run difficult sections of the course more slowly without worrying about failing; if enough students in early heats die, then later students can take the course at a snail's pace and know that literally any successful completion will earn them a pass), so her enemies weren't ready for it. Their only way to block this would be for them all to volunteer to go first as well, but Emily correctly predicts that her enemies won't want to showcase weakness by indicating that they're afraid to fight her fairly, so only one of them volunteers to run with her.
* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': [[spoiler:Jason]] pretends to help Diana and Alia, but is truly just acting to delay them to ensure they don't interfere with his plot.

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