Quotes / Unwitting Pawn

"Thanks, Finn. I couldn't have done it without you."

— The Lich disguised as a dead Billy, Adventure Time

Dr. Leo Quintum: I'm sorry, Superman. If I hadn't tried to steal fire from the sun, none of this would have happened.
Superman: Don't apologize. You couldn't have known.
Quintum: But *he* knew. It was his plan all along. Luthor used me to kill you.

—All-Star Superman

A basic rule of covert ops is let someone else do your dirty work. Let someone else find the guy you want to kill. It's a great technique, as long as you're not the "someone else".

—Michael Westen, a master of turning others into pawns finding himself on the receiving end, Burn Notice

You were nothing more than a pawn in a game played by a genuine master.

— Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis

A decent puppeteer can manipulate pawns, yes… but a true master pulls strings on string-pullers themselves.

— Malacoda to Shroud in Dis Acedia

The wolves of Fenric, descendants of the Viking who first buried the flask - all pawns in my game. Dr Judson, Commander Millington, the Ancient One, Captain Soren - and now you.

— Fenric to Ace, Doctor Who, The Curse of Fenric

There is nothing you can say, Dominic. There is nothing you can do. For the first time in a long time, you can only see. So look well upon the fate of your friend. Look well upon my victory. Look well upon the new face of damnation. Look well upon the beginning of the Court of Karnak. And while you're at it, you should be able to see that the cause and outcome of this war were all thanks to you.

— Karnak, Dominic Deegan

That was a good fight. You should be commended... Psych! You're dead meat!! Enemies you've been fighting against, supposedly "Mechanized Aliens," were actually. our [sic] guys, the missing battlefleet you learned about in the academy. You were killing our guys without knowing it! But I planned that all along! And your death... would be a nice finishing touch to my whole scheme. My special forces are the best of the best and they will be welcoming you with fierce fier [sic] power. See You in Hell!

— Your commander in DoDonPachi, if you fulfill the conditions to reach the game's second loop

You have to understand, the three of us are just their pawns. Well, you're a pawn. Dave and I are two gummy bears your retard brother stuck to the chessboard.

— John to Lance Falconer, Don't Open This Book It's Full Of Spiders

And you, Preston, the supposed savior of the resistance, are now its destroyer. And along with them, you've given me yourself. Calmly... coolly... entirely without incident.

— DuPont, Equilibrium ^note Preston: No. Not without incident.

"The answer is no."
"But, your excellency—"
"NO. Doom does not conspire. Doom is not used. Doom uses! This conversation is ended." He stabbed a button on his console that would not only break the contact, but prevent further contact from being made.
The gall. The insufferable, common-man gall of the representative. To think that he himself, Doctor Doom, would possibly—could possibly—be induced to participatory activity with a too-large band of costumed inferiors in a disruptory mission of ill-defined intent.

— FIRE! (DarkMark)

Talon: Oh, Elisa...
Elisa: Hush, it's alright.

— Gargoyles

Way To Go, Serge: It will eventually turn out that, for a minimum of the first sixty percent of the game, you were actually being manipulated by the forces of evil into doing their sinister bidding for them. In extreme cases this may go as high as 90%. The clear implication is that it would have been better to not get involved in the first place.

— The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés

"Your son didn't kill those people. He's not a murderer. He was used."

—Tony Stark, Iron Man 3

My god, I am sick.
I've been used!
And you knew
All the time!
God I'll never ever know
Why you chose me for your crime
For your foul bloody crime.
You have murdered me!

— Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar

I was using you guys as test players to collect data. It was all for creating the ultimate game!

— Kuroto Dan, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid

"Somewhere in this cyclical history of bequeathings, a chosen one will appear and reenact the Keyblade war. When this scapegoat arrives and takes my Keyblade in hand, that will be the time to take the stage and finish my role.

—Luxu/ Xigbar, Kingdom Hearts

John Locke was not a believer, Jack. He was a sucker.

— The Big Bad, Lost

"You are the victim of deception, sorcerer."

—Liu Kang to Shang Tsung, Mortal Kombat 1

Hey, hotshot! Hey, thanks for helping us out. We've been able to pick up every Blacklist racer, thanks to you. Now, I'd take that into consideration and you give yourself up. So what's it gonna be?

—Sergeant Cross, Need for Speed: Most Wanted

"If the Evil Overlord offers you immortality, superpowers, or infinite wealth, and all you have to do is something that seems terribly trivial, don't. It's a trick. You will be used as a pawn in a larger game, and then crushed like a bug."

— The Normal Innocent Bystander's Survival Guide

Qarr: We have pawns?
Cedrik: Definitely.
Nero: Even though most of them don't know it.
Lee: Destructive unnecessary conflict is pretty much all they do.
Qarr: ...they look like total morons.
Cedrik: They are! Isn't it just perfect?

— The Order of the Stick

"You can see, of course, his ready fund of resentment, his sense of isolation. All these things make him vulnerable and malleable. He's the man we've been taught to hate. He's the solitary American gun nut."

— Dr. David Dobbler, Point Of Impact

You're one microscopic cog
In his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
His red right hand

— Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Oh Detective Mills, how you tease with testosteroned veins and adrenaline-flushed skin. How you feed off those emotions. You're going to be so good for me.

—John Doe, Se7en: Wrath

Homer: I can't believe everyone was in on it.
Willie: WILLIE WASN'T!

—The Simpsons, The Great Money Caper

I have seen you in the nightfires, Victarion Greyjoy. You come striding through the flames stern and fierce, your great axe dripping blood, blind to the tentacles that grasp you at wrist and neck and ankle, the black strings that make you dance.

— Moqorro, A Song of Ice and Fire

I'm the author of this webcomic! I can see to it that I win even if you don't do ANYTHING!'

— Mark, in Stong Radd's webcomic-to-be

Seth: No... I had almost reclaimed the empire.
M. Bison: What if I told you everything has gone according to my plan?

— Street Fighter IV

If they make greeting cards for helping with evil plans, I owe you one.

— Dimentio, Super Paper Mario

If you won't be my knight, you will be my pawn.

— Darkseid to Superman, Superman: The Animated Series

Sorry, but I don't see any patriotism here. All I see is a psycho who latched on to an excuse to kill people, and who's so stupid he doesn't realize he's being used by Luthor.

— Batman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

Only by engaging in mortal combat could you regain your sanity... For you have been unwitting pawns in a vicious plan!

— Wizard Shazam, Superman vs. Shazam!

If you had just died this would have all gone according to plan.

— Robert Baxter, Time Crisis 5

They don't know. They really don't. I can only guess that they think they're the ones in control: they gesture, the Void moves in that direction, they presume that they are giving orders. I suppose that the honey guide believes that it orders the ratel to destroy the beehive, kill the bees and feast on the honey, all purely so that they honey guide has its choice of leftovers. It would probably like to think that the ratel is obeying its commands.

So it is with the Lasombra. Strings run from their hands off into the blackness, and they believe that they are the ones who do all the pulling.

—Vampire: The Masquerade - Clanbook: Malkavian (Revised)

Dracula: WHY DO YOU THINK I BROUGHT YOU HERE, GAVE YOU THIS CASTLE, EQUIPPED YOUR LABORATORY?!
Dr. Frankenstein: You said- You said you believed in my work.
Dracula: And I do. But now that it is, as you yourself have said, a triumph of science over GOD! It must now serve my purpose.
Dr. Frankenstein: What purpose?

— Van Helsing

"Inquisitor Ralei": We've played you, little man. We've pulled your strings. We've brought you here and watched you dance.
Inquisitor Sasham: You didn't bring me. My masters sent me to-
"Inquisitor Ralei": No. Wrong. I sent you. A simple transmission. A few stolen authorizations.

—Warhammer 40,000: Xenology

"Sir, I fear we are being used!"

—Sassy Sue, Zombie Strippers!

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