It's not at all surprising that there are a lot of examples of Xanatos Gambit from the Trope Namer, Gargoyles. The series antagonist is smart enough to always find and calculate ways to benefit from both victory and defeat.
- One of the best examples is in the episode "Leader of the Pack", where Xanatos sends a robot double of himself named Coyote to break the Pack out of prison (except for Fox, who refuses), and sends them against the gargoyles. The gargoyles destroy the robot and defeat the Pack, but Xanatos's plan all along was to get an early parole for Fox; her refusal to escape with the others made a big impression on the parole board. In addition, Xanatos was also able to test his new tech project (Coyote), who made recurring appearances throughout the series. This was all brilliantly disguised as a bog-standard revenge plot; as Xanatos reveals at the end, he cares little for revenge, calling it a sucker's game. Also pointing out how he could just build more robots.
- The first appearance of the Pack is also a Xanatos Gambit. Xanatos arranges for the Pack to be made aware of the Gargoyles' existence and for the Gargoyles themselves to be made aware of the Pack's existence. If the two sides destroy each other or the Pack wins, then Xanatos no longer has to deal with the Gargoyles. If the Pack loses (which they do), then Xanatos gains valuable information about the Gargoyles' skills, as the only thing he had previously known for sure was that they were physically formidable. Even better, neither side will retaliate against him because there's no way to trace the events to him.
- This was done in the series premiere, where Xanatos uses the clan to steal some tech. When they find out that he's a Chessmaster, he then utilizes the opportunity to test out his new robots, using the tech they stole. Even though it winds up in defeat, he considered it a victory because...
- A) He got the new technology.
- B) He apparently has a photographic memory of said technology.
- C) He gave his new toys a field-test against the most physically powerful beings out there, so he'll be able to make adjustments for down the line.
- "Eye of the Beholder" is a Zig-Zag on this trope. Xanatos's plan to save Fox is made of interlinking gambits where the failure of one triggers the activation of the next. Once he determines that Fox might be the werewolf creature, his first two plans involve getting the Eye of Odin away from her, Plan A just by asking and then Plan B by forcefully trying to take it from her. Goliath and Elisa witness Plan B, deducing that the werewolf must have been human and that Xanatos is after the "jewel" that it had. Returning back to Castle Wyvern, Xanatos admits that Plan B has failed but now, Plan C was in effect, which is letting the Gargoyles' hatred of him fuel their desire to get the Eye from Fox before he does, and then he'll steal it from them. Unfortunately, they anticipated this and stuck around for the exposition. "I don't suppose you have a plan D?" As it turns out, he does; explain everything and ask nicely, banking on Goliath's natural empathy to save Fox. Goliath initially flies off in a huff, but after cooling off he begrudgingly decides to help out. At the end, Xanatos gets what he wants (as expected), but self-pityingly announces that the heroes have discovered his weakness; he cares about Fox enough to submit to his enemies to save her. Goliath notes that that just means he's not as amoral as he thinks he is, meaning perhaps they don't have to be enemies at all.
- Goliath: Only you would regard love as a weakness.
- A "consolation prize" version was when he donated the Eye Of Odin to a museum, then sent out his team of robot gargoyles (the Steel Clan) to accompany him in a Powered Armor to steal it back. Goliath and company intervene and it ends with the entire Steel Clan destroyed, but Xanatos explained that he still improved public relations with the city, retrieved the priceless magical Eye of Odin, successfully tested his battle armor, and was able to fight Goliath toe-to-toe, helping his own self-esteem. "I'd say I've still got the edge."
- Petros himself gets it in "Vows" as he gives his son an average American Penny as despite it's worthlessness, who knows how much it could be. His reason for giving him the coin is because it seems that money is all Xanatos cares about.
- He gets so good at this, that it eventually comes back to bite him when Thailog is introduced in the episode "Double Jeopardy". Thailog escapes by hiring Sevarius to kidnap him via communication supposedly from Xanatos. Sevarius had no problem believing that Xanatos would arrange a kidnapping of his own experiment/son/partner in a convoluted, Machiavellian scheme to achieve some unseen goal. Thailog continued to outmaneuver everyone for the rest of the episode. When his plan to steal $20 million dollars, and kill Xanatos, Goliath, and Sevarius went belly up, Thailog moved to his backup plan: make it appear that he and the money were destroyed in an explosion. However, Xanatos is aware of this possibility, as that is what HE would do.
- Owen: You mean, that creature is still out there. It has the money. It's as powerful as Goliath. And it's smarter than you?
Xanatos: Owen, I think I created a monster.
Thailog: Hahahahahahahaha!
- The essence of a Xanatos Gambit, at least when Xanatos himself is performing one, is that defeating the heroes isn't usually his most preferred outcome (since that takes away a potential Unwitting Pawn for a later plan). The true goal is usually independent of the big fight and sometimes resolved before the fight even happens. For example, in the episode Legion. Xanatos uses the cyborg gargoyle Coldstone to break into a military installation and try to hack an advanced computer system. The military machine immediately uploads a computer virus into Coldstone, who is then confronted by a police experimental robot that tazes him. The heroes show up to confront Coldstone, there is a police chase, etc.; but none of this matters to the Xanatos Gambit since Xanatos manufactured and donated the police robot: it was programmed to use its "taser" to download the virus from Coldstone's computer systemnote . The rest of the episode may appear as though it was spoiling Xanatos's scheme, but in reality it was completely irrelevant to his actual goals.
- Titania, Fox's mother, displays this in "The Gathering". When she manipulates Oberon to attempt to abduct Alexander, she has set herself to win either way: if Oberon managed to get the baby, he could be raised in the magical nurturing environment of Avalon, and if the fight went against him, it would probably be because Fox's latent magic power came to the surface in Mama Bear fashion, showing that Alex could be adequately trained on Earth after all.
- Demona's first attempt at a Xanatos Gambit was a failed one. In "A Long Way Till Morning". Demona confronts Elisa in her apartment and shoots her with a poison dart. She tells her that if she wants the antidote, have Goliath meet her at a certain location. Goliath takes the bait, but brings Hudson along with him. Once he arrives, Demona attacks, planning to kill the gargoyle leader so she can take over. She even gives Hudson a chance to side with her, but Hudson is able to protect Goliath until sunrise. The following night, once it's clear Demona's plan to kill Goliath has failed, she reminds them of the supposed reason they showed up in the first place — to save Elisa from a poison that has NO antidote, and would've killed her by now. What Demona didn't realize, however, is that the dart never hit Elisa's skin, only her police badge.
- Demona had improved her tactics by the time of "The Mirror" — while she's trying to steal the eponymous artifact from a museum, Goliath and Elisa find her and chase her outside of the building. Once all three are gone, some hired Mooks of Demona's break in and steal the mirror for her.
- Demona and Macbeth steal a comatose Coldstone from the Gargoyles' lair and bring forth the Iago persona. The heroes are so focused on the reasons for this unlikely triple threat that they don't even notice the real purpose of the 'abduction': the Weird Sisters, using mind control on Macbeth and Demona, also had them steal three magic objects the gargoyles had stored in their tower. The heroes don't even notice until the trail is cold.
