History ExactWords / Literature

-->"Do Kitan women all speak so much, not listen? I said we see garrison. Not go there. [...] We see walls and turn south. Kiran fortress is protection[.]"

* In Creator/TanyaHuff's first story about the thief Terizan, the ThievesGuild asks her, as an initiation test, to bring them the braid of the mercenary Swan. Terizan is enamored of Swan and doesn't especially want to do this, and wants to do it even less after she and Swan team up to take down a treacherous councilman, but she does very badly want to join the Guild. [[TakeAThirdOption So she has Swan accompany her to the guildmasters, braid still attached.]]

** While playing a high-stakes card game, Lando offers Han a marker for "any ship on [his] lot" when he runs short of cash. As he doesn't specify that he means his ''inventory'', Han uses the marker to claim Lando's personal ship, the ''Millennium Falcon'', which Lando had left parked in said lot. Lando tries to object, but Han presses him on his literal statement, and Lando unhappily agrees.

** In one book, it's combined with LoopholeAbuse. Harry decides he needs to raise a zombie to help escort him to the site of a potential battle. Human zombies are forbidden by the Laws of Magic. He goes back to a museum to use one of the displays there. When called on it by the Commander of the Wardens, he points out it isn't a ''human'' zombie; instead, it's a [[spoiler:T. rex]], so, no conflict with the Law.

** The teachers have fun with this as soon as Umbridge is appointed to Headmistress in the fifth book. With the passage of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six which bans teachers from telling students anything that doesn't have to do with their subject, they gleefully refuse to extinguish the fireworks Fred and George released, [[BotheringByTheBook explaining that they weren't sure they had the authorization to do so.]]
** This is the reason why Kreacher was able to get away with [[spoiler:selling out Sirius Black to Bellatrix Lestrange]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' without worrying about getting caught: when Sirius gets irritated with Kreacher, he shouts at him to "GET OUT!" He fails to specify where Kreacher was supposed to go after leaving the house. Sirius is really going to wish he ate those words later on...
** Harry, remembering this, averts the trope in the next book. When he asks Kreacher to spy on Malfoy, he follows it up with a long list of further orders, forbidding Kreacher to let Malfoy know he's being followed, through direct or indirect means. Kreacher, realizing that Harry left no room for LoopholeAbuse, mutters "Master thinks of everything." That being said, he exploits this trope when Harry questions him about what he has observed about Malfoy by only mentioning the mundane aspects of Malfoy's life instead of what Harry wants to know, forcing Harry to ask Dobby, who spies on Malfoy alongside Kreacher, for more crucial information instead.
** Snape in the beginning of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' tries to reassure Bellatrix that he's on the side of the Death Eaters by saying "I've played my part well, and I have deceived one of the greatest wizards of all time." (''Bellatrix scoffs'') "Dumbledore ''is'' a great wizard, only a fool would deny it." Note that [[spoiler:he didn't actually say that Dumbledore was the great wizard he was deceiving.]]
** Harry Potter does this to the Minister of Magic (who keeps Umbridge in the ministry) in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' when asked to publicly support the government (when he very much does not).
** Then, in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', Harry makes a deal with a goblin: if he helps the Trio [[spoiler:break into Gringotts]], they'll give him [[spoiler:Gryffindor's Sword]]. But they don't say ''when'' they're going to give it to him. In this case they only did it because they still needed [[spoiler:the sword to destroy the Horcruxes]] and, after everything was over, Harry intended to keep his promise. Similarly, the goblin tells Harry that he'll break them into Gringotts in exchange for Gryffindor's Sword. Unfortunately for Harry and his friends, he never said that he'd actually get them ''out'' once he gets them in.
** It's implied that this is how Goblins operate regarding deals. [[spoiler:Ludo Bagman bet on Harry to win the Triwizard Tournament in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' so he could keep the Goblin debt-collectors off his back. Unfortunately, Harry drew with Cedric (even if only one of them survived), and Ludo had to go on the lam, especially since the Goblins bet on Harry drawing with Cedric, which did happen exactly.]]

** When Tristran returns with the star, Victoria tells him that, despite her engagement to Mr. Monday, she will honor their bargain and marry Tristran, instead. Tristran reminds her that her exact words were that she would grant his heart's desire, which he tells her is now to see her happily wed to Mr. Monday.

* In ''The Mystery of The Talking Skull'', a novel in ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'', one of the cryptic clues the titular talking skull gives the heroes is about someone having "disappeared from the world of men". This is initially taken as a euphemism for his death, but it turns out he's alive and DisguisedInDrag.

*** Ignotus, being the wisest brother, [[YoungestChildWins turns this on Death]] by simply requesting something that allowed him to leave "without being followed by Death". As Death had no way of twisting this request to suit his ends or declining it without giving away his intentions, he was forced to give Ignotus the Cloak of Invisibility. [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLiketheOthers Contrary to the other Hallows]], the cloak worked exactly as its receiver wanted, and allowed Ignotus to continually evade Death. He was thus able to live to a grand old age without Death being able to find him until he took off the cloak and willingly departed the living world.

** From the same book: when the RightfulKingReturns but [[AbdicateTheThrone doesn't want the job]], Nanny reveals that [[spoiler:the Fool]] is actually his older brother, so they make him king instead. She neglects to mention that he's actually Tomjon's ''half-''brother, born from the queen's affair with another man.

* Gods in ''Literature/TheRavenTower'' and the associated "Nalendar" short stories by [[Creator/AnnLeckie the same author]] [[RealityWarper make things true]] by [[WordsCanBreakMyBones speaking them aloud]], and this always happens in a literal way. The power required to make these things true drain the God in question, even potentially maiming or killing them. As a result, Gods in the setting are always ''extremely'' careful in their language and tend to speak as exacting as possible if they speak at all. ''The Raven Tower'' contains a side story of a God killed by a blessed object of its own making, by not making the rules by which it worked unambiguous enough.

* In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', Wonka shows his guests his Square Candies That Look Round, which are hard candies with funny faces painted on them in a small room with a glass door. But they look square. When told this, he says they ''are'' square. But they ''look'' square, not round! Wonka insists they ''look'' round! After a few minutes of arguing, Wonka opens the door, and the candies turn round to look at who's coming in. (They're square candies, and they're looking round- the room, that is.)

*** The inability to lie is, of course, not the same as the inability to deceive. A speaker can easily omit key information (such as Arya not telling anyone [[spoiler:she's the daughter of the queen of elves [[YouDidntAsk because everyone assumed she was a simple emissary]]]]), imply something that is untrue, or even unknowingly say something false as long as they believe it is true (Murtagh telling Eragon [[spoiler:they are brothers, when they are actually half-brothers, but Murtagh didn't know that part]]). Elves in particular, since they communicate primarily in the Ancient Language, are somewhat infamous for being incredibly good at technically telling the truth while still deceiving.
*** Oaths are also circumvented several times by the person holding to the letter of their oath while avoiding it's intention.
*** [[spoiler:Murtagh]] is ordered under an oath to try to capture [[spoiler:Eragon]]. After the two fight and the former wins, but simply leaves. Since they had ''tried'' to capture the target, their oath was fulfilled, even if they hadn't actually tried very hard. He later notes that the Oaths were revised to be significantly stricter to avoid him using a similar loophole again
*** Rhunön, the smith who made all of the Dragon Riders swords, swore never to make another weapon, but is able to circumvent this to make a sword for Eragon by guiding his mind. In other words, Eragon is the one physically doing the work but the smith is telling him what to do. Interestingly, when Eragon points out how close this is to violating her Oath she tells him to shut up, and that since she views it as different enough it's fine, but seems to indicate that if he had successfully convinced her it was in violation of her Oath, she would have become unable to do it.
*** After Ajihad is killed and his daughter Nasuada takes over his role as the leader of the Varden, the Elder Council demands that Eragon swear an oath of loyalty as part of their machinations to turn Nasuada into something akin to a [[PuppetKing Puppet Queen]]. Eragon obliges... by publicly swearing an oath of loyalty ''to Nasuada'', not to the Varden as a whole.

** It's also [[CannotTellALie impossible to lie]] in the Ancient Language. Any statement must be true, and any promises made are unbreakable. Of course as a result there are numerous examples of characters using exact words or FromACertainPointOfView in order to skirt this limitation.

** Orsina is [[WillNotTellALie sworn not to lie]], but truthful but misleading statements are okay sometimes. In fact, it's revealed paladins overall have a reputation for using these.

** Orsina is [[WillNotTellALie sworn not to lie]], but truthful but misleading statements are okay sometimes.