History Main / NoMereWindmill

* ''Fanfic/TheRoboutianHeresy'': Double Subverted. Gregor Eisenhorn spent his life trying to prevent the rise of mysterious nightmarish nascent Chaos God known as Yellow King, thinking that Inquisition and his friend Pontius Glaw wouldn't believe him. As it turns out, Pontius ''does'' believe him, and seeks to stop him because Gregor is [[spoiler: the vessel for Yellow King, and all his life was been manipulated into becoming one.]]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:"[[AltText The moment their arms spun freely in our air]], [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers]], by virtue of occasionally producing [[Literature/DonQuixote someone]] totally [[SuccessThroughInsanity batshit insane.]]"]]-]

* In ''Literature/TheUnfinishedTales'' and other peripheral sources, Saruman attempted to make Gandalf's insistence that the [[Literature/TheHobbit Necromancer of Mirkwood]] was, in fact, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]] reestablishing his power a {{Windmill Crusade|r}}. Saruman very well ''knew'' that Gandalf was correct, but wanted the One Ring for himself and was stalling for time to try and find it first. It was only when he believed Sauron was too close to recovering the Ring that he dropped the charade and acknowledged the Necromancer was NoMereWindmill. This is shown ''quite'' nicely during the council scene at Rivendell in ''[[Film/TheHobbit The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey]]''.

* The 1971 George C. Scott film ''Film/TheyMightBeGiants'' (after which [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants the band you're probably more familiar with]] is named) bases its conflict on this trope. The protagonist believes himself to be Literature/SherlockHolmes and is trying to convince his psychiatrist that not only is his claim true, but [[DiabolicalMastermind Moriarty]] is also at large in the city. [[spoiler:Since the ending [[SmashToBlack cuts out at the last second]], it's open to interpretation whether they finally meet and confront Moriarty, or are run over by a train.]]

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!Examples:

* From ComicBook/{{Superman}} "Gentlemen, Krypton is doomed!". In whatever iteration it arises, Superman's father Jor-El predicts the doom of Krypton and is summarily ignored, inevitably the planet is destroyed about ten pages later.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'', the Superhomies make the mistake of ignoring Thugboy's warnings about Willy Pete, and go after him expecting an easy win and a quick PR boost. Turns out that if anything, Willy Pete was ''worse'' than Thugboy knew. He incinerated the squad sent to bring him in ''instantly'' before they even knew he was there, with only a single survivor escaping, [[HeroKiller and it just gets worse from there.]]

* ''Fanfic/ArrowRebirth'': Tempest is a mixture of Type A and Type D. A great majority of the city are skeptical of the idea of such an organization which such wide-spanning influence exists, despite the Green Arrow's claims. [[spoiler:Tommy even goes as far as to use it as proof that Oliver is mentally ill]]. However, a select few such as Oliver, Laurel, and Sara, along with the readers, know that Tempest is very much a real threat and worse than the Green Arrow has been implying so far. [[spoiler:When Tempest is finally exposed, the world does ''not'' take it well]].

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'', the bad weather is only bad weather. It’s only bad weather, it’ll get better soon... or not. This is a Type C, where the main character gets ridiculed for a prognosis that is far less lethal than the situation they are really about to face.
* In ''Film/WarGames'', there’s nothing wrong with the computer. Nope. It’s just a hacker. It’s all his fault. And since this disaster couldn’t have been caused by some random kid, he must have been working with the Russians. [[spoiler: No, it was the computer all along: A dangerous case of Garbage In, Garbage Out, ascending towards TheComputerIsYourFriend. This is a Type B: The main character knows what Joshua is up to, but nobody believes him]].

* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', we are introduced to a crazy woman who is obviously a paranoid schizophrenic. She even believes that evil robots from the future are out to get her, imagine that. To the great surprise of everyone except the audience, it eventually turns out that the robots are real and Sarah is completely sane (although traumatized). She knows exactly what a terminator really is, a straight Type A of this trope.
* The 1971 George C. Scott film ''Film/TheyMightBeGiants'' (after which [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants the band you're probably more familiar with]] is named) bases its conflict on this trope. The protagonist believes himself to be Literature/SherlockHolmes and is trying to convince his psychiatrist that not only is his claim true, but [[DiabolicalMastermind Moriarty]] is also at large in the city. [[spoiler:Since the ending [[SmashToBlack cuts out at the last second]], it's open to interpretation whether they finally meet and confront Moriarty, or are run over by a train.]]

* In ''Film/IronSky'', the flying saucer space Nazis are very real, but when a certain hobo tries to warn people about the threat they all just think he's crazy.
* In ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'', an understandable instance occurs. WindmillCrusader James Cole has to try and prevent the near-extinction of mankind by lethal virus; however, the reason nobody listens to his warnings is that he claims to be from the future, and even [[UnreliableNarrator Cole himself begins to question if people are right about him being insane.]]

* In ''Film/TheBurbs'', the audience is led through the power of tropes to believe that the ObviouslyEvil Klopeks are innocent and their neighbors have whipped themselves up into a paranoid frenzy over nothing. Then the tropes are subverted when it turns out that, [[RightForTheWrongReasons despite having been wrong about the initial victim]], the Klopeks really are a pair of serial killers.
* In ''Film/AlienS'', there is apparently no evidence of an alien found in the ''Nostromo’s'' lifeboat, so Ripley’s destruction of the ship is officially designated as “Reasons Unknown” and her commercial certifications are revoked. Hell, there’s even been a human terraforming colony on LV-426 for the last 20 years. Then, they lose contact with the colony and send in [[SpaceMarines the military]] to investigate, and [[FromBadToWorse they find that the colony has been wiped out and the colonists used to create more xenomorphs]]. [[TheConspiracy Of course, the Company already knew that the xenomorphs were real and wanted to capture one or more of them for various research purposes…]]

** The Children of the Forest and many of the abilities associated with them also suffer this, all demoted to fanciful fairytale and myth status, despite them all cropping liberally up in legends and folklore, if rather distorted and disguised. [[spoiler: Yup, not imaginary, however reduced in numbers they are. Also, both them and human wargs, skinchangers, greendreamers, and greenseers with the use of their weirwood heart trees as booster signals? Still kicking and still impacting events... however much most of the Seven Kingdoms would like to deny it.]]

* The ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' ZombieApocalypse Halloween Special has a Type C with the genetically modified food in the cafeteria from season 2. Emma just thought they were trying to poison the kids, but it turns out it's a FateWorseThanDeath.

* ''Series/TheGoodies'', with Tim wearing a "the end is nigh" placard and it's just an advertising gimmick for his chestnut stall. Of course, the world gets blown up "in an unprecedented show of international military cooperation" shortly thereafter.
* The pilot episode of ''Don Quick'' (which isn't listed in the Wikipedia entry) had a crashingly literal version of this. Visiting peaceable hippies who live inside clouds of toxic bubbles that protect them from their warlike neighbours, Don Quick dismisses their fears of the "giants" that appear on their doorstep: it's OK, they're only windmills! Actually, they're giant fans that blow the bubbles away and leave the hippies defenseless.

* Another Type D example from a ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' strip: A seemingly crazed man is [[SoapboxSadie standing on a soapbox]] on a bustling street corner, screaming to the pedestrians all around him that "[T]he vampires are everywhere! Listen to me! Everyone must beware! Vampires!" Everyone just ignores him-- and with good reason, because two workingmen walking by carrying a large mirror betray that nobody on the streets except for the mad prophet is casting a reflection...

* The Skaven in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' are this as well, since hardly anyone in the Empire even believes that they exist. This includes cities that were attacked by Skaven in the past. This is helped by a large-scale spell that makes people less likely to believe in them as well as Clan Eshin (Ninja Rats) doing all they can to steal and/or destroy evidence that would suggest the existence of Skaven. Consequently, any time someone mentions the Skaven, they are either labeled as being crazy or more likely, burned at the stake for speaking heresy, if they don't mysteriously disappear due to Eshin assassins.

--->'''Shepard:''' So the geth believed your proof that the Reapers were coming back?
--->'''Legion:''' Of course.
--->'''Shepard:''' That must have been nice.
** [[spoiler: Averted by the second game. While the Council's official stance is that Sovereign was a Geth construct, the Citadel Archives show they were aware it was more likely a Reaper. It just happens that Shepard's approach was to "warn everyone" causing widespread panic.]]
* Sōsuke Sagara, protagonist of ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games is most of the time treated as a WrongGenreSavvy WindmillCrusader who sees danger at every corner. Sometimes, however, [[ProperlyParanoid he turns out to be right]]. Like in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' when he informs [[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Yurika]] that a suspicious person has appeared - that suspicious person turns out to be the ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' character, [[TheMole Balzac]].
* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' has a straight example in both the E3 demo and the finished game. Near the beginning of the demo, you hear a town crier warning that the Vox Populi are dangerous terrorists who want to plunder everything you have and murder you. Just as you're assuming that you've seen this old cliché before --it's obviously a trumped-up threat by the demonstrably evil establishment and [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified the Vox Populi are really noble freedom fighters]]-- you run into one of the Vox Populi spokesmen, who loudly proclaims that [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized his group wants to plunder everything you have and murder you]]. In the game proper, there's far more build-up to the expected reveal that the Vox are good guys, and the game even lets you believe they really are for a while. Then they turn on you, and you realize that they're actually bloodthirsty radicals looking to wipe out ''everyone'' in Columbia, all the way down to the innocent women and children.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Grey Wardens' reputation in Ferelden was already rather poor because of an ill-fated revolt led by a Warden in the past. While everyone acknowledges that the Darkspawn are real and are an invading force, quite a few also refuse to believe that it's a full-scale Blight. Which it is. [[spoiler:Loghain betrays his king and the Wardens to their doom because he believes they're collaborating with Orlais and he believes Ferelden can handle the Darkspawn on their own.]] As the game progresses, he falls apart as he realizes that he might have underestimated the threat.
* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode 2'', scientist Fidel Barkhorst tried to warn [[TheFederation the UCE]] about the possibility of an alien invasion and asked for the funding to produce a defense initiative consisting of automated battle robots and a network of {{Kill Sat}}s. The UCE leadership called him a paranoid kook and discredited Barkhorst, which resulted in his [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]]. A few decades later he was proven correct when [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross the Zentraedi]] arrived, though thankfully the [[BadassArmy combined forces of the heroes]] were enough to save the day.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Twilight Sparkle appears to be jealous and/or paranoid of Shining Armor's marriage to Princess Cadence, repeatedly claiming something is wrong with her and eventually straight-up accusing her of being evil. As it turns out, [[spoiler:[[ProperlyParanoid that Cadence was an imposter who imprisoned the real Cadence]]]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: S.U.P.P.O.R.T.", Numbuh One thinks that Cree's training bra is [[FunWithAcronyms "Battle Ready Armor"]] and that she's in league with the adults. While at first, it looks like he's being ridiculous (as even Numbuh Five, Cree's younger sister, tells him), it turns out at the end of the episode that [[ProperlyParanoid he's exactly right]] (and apparently, Numbuh Five knew it, too, as Cree had procured information not from her, but from a dummy she had made), and Cree goes on to become one of the most dangerous villains in the series. Of course, later episodes show that they had ''many'' reasons to be wary of Cree from the start, [[FallenHero given who]] [[BrokenPedestal she used]] [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry to be.]]

* Sōsuke Sagara, protagonist of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games is most of the time treated as a WrongGenreSavvy WindmillCrusader who sees danger at every corner. Sometimes, however, [[ProperlyParanoid he turns out to be right]]. Like in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' when he informs [[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Yurika]] that a suspicious person has appeared - that suspicious person turns out to be the ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' character, [[TheMole Balzac]].

The presence of a work in this list means a hidden threat has become real. Odds are good that '''Here there be spoilers'''

Not to be confused with ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', which includes a HumongousMecha that disguises itself as a windmill, but is completely non-threatening. Also not to be confused with the similar-sounding ThatsNoMoon

* In the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth novel]] of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' (as well as the end of [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth]]), people cling to the belief that [[spoiler:Voldemort]] cannot have returned. Thus they let him grow in power undisturbed, while they accuse Harry of being a WindmillCrusader and Dumbledore of being a ManipulativeBastard using this Windmill Political for some shadowy political game.

* A couple of books into the ''Literature/CodexAlera'', the main characters are aware that the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] are building footholds in the country in preparation for a massive invasion, but most of Alera's leadership is convinced they are a minor concern beside the many, many other races trying to kill them on their particular iteration of a DeathWorld. In the next book, they learn that the Vord have utterly consumed the next continent and Alera is the last civilisation standing.

* ''Fanfic/TheRoboutianHeresy'': Double Subverted. Gregor Eisenhorn spent his life trying to prevent the rise of mysterious nightmarish nascent Chaos God known as Yellow King, thinking that Inquisition and his friend Pontius Glaw wouldn't believe him. As it turns out, Pontius ''does'' believe him, and seeks to stop him because Gregor is [[spoiler: the vesssel for Yellow King, and all his life was been manipulated into becoming one.]]

->''Ah yes, "Reapers". The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. Oh, we have dismissed that claim.''

* Most people believed that the claims that the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] were bent on the total conquest of Europe constituted a WindmillPolitical. (It didn't help that World War I era propaganda [[CryingWolf exaggerated Imperial Germany's ambitions and crimes.]]) People read UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's ''Literature/MeinKampf'' and [[MyGodYouAreSerious didn't believe he was serious]], or thought that even if he was, there was no way he'd go and try to make it a reality, or that even if he did, there was no way he could pull it off. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready We all know how it turned out in the end]]. This is also true for Winston Churchill's conviction that war with the Nazis was inevitable. UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain famously took the populist position on the issue, since public opinion was almost unanimously opposed to ''another'' large-scale European war, and together with French PM Deladier negotiated with Hitler to preserve peace in Europe... [[SubvertedTrope at first]]. By the middle of the 1930s, it was obvious that the Nazis weren't going to be satisfied until they controlled the whole continent, and behind the scenes, the focus had shifted to delaying the inevitable confrontation as long as possible while they made preparations; within weeks of Chamberlain making his infamous "there will be peace in our time" speech, Parliament passed legislation enabling significant expansion of the armed forces and laying the groundwork for the extensive civil defence preparations that saved many lives during the Blitz. Sadly, his mostly-undeserved reputation for HeadInTheSandManagement persisted for decades after his death.

->''Ah yes, "Reapers". The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. Oh, we have dismissed that claim.]]''

* In ''Film/{{RED}}'', this is Boggs' signature trope. Not long into the film, he's convinced they're being followed by a helicopter, and he pulls over a random middle-aged woman at the terminal and threatens her with a gun (the woman is terrified and completely unarmed). He's just a paranoid kook, right? However, that same helicopter shows up later and snipes at them, killing their informant, and the woman shows up with a ''rocket launcher.''

->''Ah yes, [[AirQuotes "Reapers"]]. The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. [[MemeticMutation Oh, we have dismissed that claim.]]''

* The BBC TV series of ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', a man with a placard reading "The End of the World is Nigh" is among those seen panicking in the street when the Vogons arrive.

* In ''Videogame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Grey Wardens' reputation in Ferelden was already rather poor because of an ill-fated revolt led by a Warden in the past. While everyone acknowledges that the Darkspawn are real and are an invading force, quite a few also refuse to believe that it's a full-scale Blight. Which it is. [[spoiler:Loghain betrays his king and the Wardens to their doom because he believes they're collaborating with Orlais and he believes Ferelden can handle the Darkspawn on their own.]] As the game progresses, he falls apart as he realizes that he might have underestimated the threat.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Haunted", Robin is plagued by thoughts of evil villain Slade, and if he is still out there somewhere. Robin pushes his friends away, as his determination to find Slade is getting obsessive and the other titans have a hard time convincing him Slade is no longer an issue. At one point, Robin actually starts to see Slade moving around. It's just that, even while Robin catches up with him, no one else can see the villain. It gets so bad they actually have to restrain Robin later on. It turns out though... that imaginary enemies don't tend to do physical damage to their victim, and that Robin might actually be fighting something more than anyone else is assuming. [[spoiler: It ultimately turns out to be a subversion: Robin is under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug, and the physical damage is partially self-inflicted, partially psychosomatic.]]

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' has a straight example in both the E3 demo and the finished game. Near the beginning, if the demo you hear a town crier warning that the Vox Populi are dangerous terrorists who want to plunder everything you have and murder you. Just as you're assuming that you've seen this old cliché before --it's obviously a trumped-up threat by the demonstrably evil establishment and [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified the Vox Populi are really noble freedom fighters]]-- you run into one of the Vox Populi spokesmen, who loudly proclaims that [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized his group wants to plunder everything you have and murder you]]. In the game proper, there's far more build-up to the expected reveal that Vox are good guys, and the game even lets you believe they really are for a while. Then they turn on you, and you realize that they're actually bloodthirsty radicals looking to wipe out ''everyone'' in Columbia, all the way down to the innocent women and children.

Not to be confused with ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', which includes a HumongousMecha that disguises itself as a windmill, but is completely non-threatening. Also not to be confused with the similar-sounding ThatsNoMoon.

Not to be confused with ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', which includes a HumongousMecha that disguises itself as a windmill, but is completely non-threatening.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' protagonist, Sōsuke Sagara in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games is most of time treated as WrongGenreSavvy WindmillCrusader who sees danger at every corner. Sometimes, however, he turns out to be right. Like in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' when he informs [[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Yurika]] that a suspicious person has appeared - that suspicious person turns out to be Anime/TekkamanBlade character, [[TheMole Balzac]].

->''Ah yes,'' [[AirQuotes "Reapers"]]. ''The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. [[MemeticMutation Oh, we have dismissed that claim.]]''

->''"Ah yes, 'Reapers'. The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. Oh, we have dismissed that claim."''