History ExactWords / Literature

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

* In ''Literature/ShatteringTheLey'', Hounds are soldiers that have trained to have a superhuman sense of smell for tracking, and their (not always willing) training involves being tortured to the point where they will follow orders without question. At one point, a Hound is given an order to find another character: specifically, to "find the traitorous Kormanley bastard, and subdue him". However, when he *does* locate that character, he determines that the character he was pursuing [[spoiler:is not actually a member of the Kormanley, and therefore, is unwilling to subdue him, as he was given an order explicitly to find a "traitorous Kormanley bastard", so he lets his quarry go.]]

* In "Tirant lo blanc" (you probably know it only as the book that escaped burning in Literature/DonQuixote) the enemy town didn't play fair, which angered Tirants cousin(?) so much that he declared the whole town will come under his sword. Later, they surrendered and even converted to Christianity. Magnanimous Tirant wants to spare them, but a knights word of honor is unbreakable. So he cheats a bit and makes the oath come true literally: The sword is hung in the air and the whole town marches under it. Even the hot-headed cousin, cooled off in the meantime, is happy with this outcome.

*** Rhunön, the smith who made all of the Dragon Riders swords, swore never to make another weapon, but is able to circumvents 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.

*** Gorlim the Unhappy catches a glilmpse of his missing wife, believes she has been captured by Sauron, and agrees to betray his companions in exchange for being reunited with his wife. Morgoth (or Sauron, depending on the version of the tale), promises to do so, and after Gorlim has betrayed to Morgoth the hideout of Barahir and his outlaw band, he reunites Gorlim with Eilinel by killing him. Gorlim did not see his wife but a hallucination cast by Sauron.

** 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 limiation.

** From the same book, there is the prophecy about the return of the kings of Ankh-Morpork. It says a lot about how the king shall Serve and Protect the People with his Sword, and bring Law and Justice. It says nothing about the king actually taking the throne, and the heir to the throne is very happy with his job in the Watch.

* ''LightNovel/DidntISayToMakeMyAbilitiesAverageInTheNextLife'': As her NewLifeInAnotherWorldBonus, the protagonist asks to become [[IJustWantToBeNormal an average person]]. The divinity misunderstands and averages out the greatest and least of ''all'' life in her new world, giving her half the strength and magic of the greatest Elder Dragon, half the rank of the highest nobility, and half the beauty of the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman -- all vastly superior to most humans.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Emiya Kiritsugu forms a contract that, if broken, causes the offender to lose all magecraft forever. He is not allowed to kill Lord El-Melloi or his fiancée, and El-Melloi must order Lancer to commit suicide and withdraw from the Grail War. With that done, he sends his partner after them to shoot them both. El-Melloi has some protection against bullets so he is wounded but doesn't die, and due to the contract Kiritsugu can't kill him. Eventually Saber has to step up for the MercyKill.

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'' uses the Cronus precedent. It is an oft-repeated and incontrovertible fact that no one in either world can defeat [[TopGod the White Queen]], [[spoiler:in the same way that a human can't kill a bear. But a human can create and use a weapon that can kill bears. Hence, the creation of the Colorless Little Girl.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the criteria for Strategic-Class magicians is that they must be able to kill a given [[OneManArmy (vast)]] amount of people with one spell. This is why Miyuki doesn't count as Strategy-Class- her biggest spell can ''only'' freeze a fleet of military submarines, and all the people inside them, in place. Although death is extremely likely to follow in those circumstances (for example, if someone else then fires missiles at the sitting ducks), the spell itself has not killed them.

* In the third book of ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', at one point SQ enters the room where the protagonists are being held, and tells them that they would be punished if they talk to him. They talk to each other, saying things intended for him to hear.

** The instructions for entering the West-gate of Moria: "SpeakFriendAndEnter", written in Elvish. The password is the Elvish word for "friend". After he solved it Gandalf realizes it wasn't even supposed to be a riddle. Anyone with a halfway decent knowledge of Sindarin grammar would have realized the trick, since the word isn't properly spelled for it's place in the sentence. But Gandalf's Sindarin is apparently rusty (somewhat justified in that Sindarin is a newfangled invention from his point of view, and he has spent the majority of his time in Middle Earth hanging out with hobbits.)

-->'''Granny Weatherwax:''' We're bound to be truthful, but there's no call to be honest.

** From the same book: when TheRightfulKingReturns but RefusesTheCrown, Nanny reveals that [[spoiler:the Fool]] is actually his older brother, so they crown him instead. She neglects to mention that he's actually Tomjon's ''half-''brother, born from the queen's affair with another man.

-->“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.” There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before; and Drinian was swinging round the tiller, and the boatswain was giving out the quickest stroke that had ever been heard at sea. For it had taken everyone just that halfminute to remember certain dreams they had had—dreams that make you afraid of going to sleep again—and to realize what it would mean to land on a country where dreams come true.
* Creator/LewisCarroll ''loved'' this Trope, although it's usually done for laughs in his works. Here's one example from ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'':
-->'''White King:''' There's nothing like eating hay when you feel faint.
-->'''Alice:''' I should think throwing cold water over you would be better — or some sal-volatile.[[note]]Better known as smelling salts[[/note]]
-->'''White King:''' I didn't say there was nothing '''better,''' I said there was nothing '''like''' it.

** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The best example is the Witch-King's boast of how {{no Man|OfWomanBorn}} can kill him. So Merry, a hobbit, stabs him behind the knee with an enchanted blade that breaks the Witch-King's invulnerability. Éowyn, a woman, finishes him off by stabbing him in the face. In this case, both meanings of man--the race of Men and the sex--work against the Witch-King. This counts as a trick, since the Witch-King only boasts about it because it was a prophecy made by Glorfindel. Glorfindel has the gift of foresight, and made this prophecy in the Witch-King's hearing. The Witch-King apparently was so cocky that it never occurred to him that his sworn enemy might make a prophecy with an unfortunate loophole.

* In the setting of ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', ''Poke'', and ''Literature/{{Pale}}'', all mystical practitioners, as [[EquivalentExchange the cost for being able to perform magic]], agree to [[CannotTellALie speak only the truth]], and [[MagicallyBindingContract to faithfully abide by all oaths that they swear]]. Naturally, many practitioners exploit this trope in order to trick their enemies, with the foremost example being ''Pact'''s Laird Behaim, who, in his first appearance, approaches [[NaiveNewcomer Blake]], agrees to protect him while they talk (and makes several statements to the effect of it being in his best interests to do so) and then shortly thereafter ruthlessly exploits both the vagaries of the English language and the precise wording of his statements to justify leaving Blake to die.

* From the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Black Library]]:

** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''[[Literature/{{Ravenor}} Ravenor Rogue]]'', Ravenor tries to make the [[PortalDoor tri-portal]] take his party back to their proper time and place by concentrating on the name Arethusa and the year 404. Because he wasn’t specific enough, the tri-portal brings them not to the ship ''Arethusa'', but to ''Listening Post'' Arethusa on the other side of the galaxy, in the year 404 of the previous millennium.

** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Thingol promises to give Lúthien to Beren [[ImpossibleTask when Beren returns with a Silmaril in his hand]]. When Beren does return, the Silmaril ''is'' in his hand... which is in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth.
** More tragically, the sons of Fëanor swore to reclaim the Silmarils by any means necessary. As long as the Silmarils were held by Morgoth, all was well and good since then their oath could be fulfilled by opposing Morgoth, However, when Beren made off with one of the Silmarils, Fëanors sons became obligated to go to war against one of their closest allies, and caused a knock-on effect that ended the First Age and sent Middle-Earth spiralling into decline. If the oath had simply been "reclaim the Silmarils ''from Morgoth''", all could have been avoided.
** The Doom of the Noldor is very carefully worded to imply that the battle against Morgoth is hopeless, while simultaneously providing for Morgoth's defeat. Apparently it never occurred to Morgoth that Námo never said what would happen if a Son of Fëanor started a project with bad intentions...
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The best example, though, is the Witch-King's boast of how {{no Man|OfWomanBorn}} can kill him. So Merry, a hobbit, stabs him behind the knee with an enchanted blade that breaks the Witch-King's invulnerability. Éowyn, a woman, finishes him off by stabbing him in the face. In this case, both meanings of man--the race of Men and the sex--work against the Witch-King. This counts as a trick, since the Witch-King only boasts about it because it was a prophecy made by Glorfindel. Glorfindel has the gift of foresight, and made this prophecy in the Witch-King's hearing. The Witch-King apparently was so cocky that it never occurred to him that his sworn enemy might make a prophecy with an unfortunate loophole.

** Rincewind does this is ''Literature/TheLastHero'', though it is mostly because he wants to start off by making something clear: he does not want to volunteer for the dangerous mission. [[spoiler:He ''is'' volunteering, as he explains afterwards. He doesn't ''want'' to, but he figures [[GotVolunteered he'd somehow end up 'volunteered']] or [[CosmicPlaything just stumbling into it in an effort to get away anyway]], so he volunteers to get it over and done with.]]

** Used by Moist von Lipwig in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' when his fiancée is questioning him about an army of golems, because he doesn't want to give her the truth lest someone tries to endanger her. (She nearly gets a knife in the gut anyway, but for a different reason.) Also, the aide to the villain of the novel was hired after boasting that "I was a minor secretary and I was employed at the Palace". Which is technically true, as he'd gotten a menial job at the Palace ''after'' losing his position as a minor secretary to one of the guilds.
** All of the descriptions of [[TheFairFolk elves]] in ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'' are exactly correct, albeit not as complimentary as they sound. Words like "wonderful" and "enchanting" tend to shift away from their literal meaning over time...

** In ''The Science of Discworld'', Ponder Stibbons' experiments on [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything generating abundant energy by splitting the thaum]] (the basic unit of magic) draw the obvious question from Archchancellor Ridcully: "What chance is there of this just blowin' up and destroyin' the entire university?" Ponder replies, "None, sir", but alas for him, Ridcully sees though that immediately. If anything goes wrong at all, it wouldn't ''just'' blow up the university; it would destroy the whole city, continent or even all the Discworld.
** Jeremy Clockson in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' gets a bit... ''[[MadScientist unusual]]'' if he doesn't take his medicine, so a man from the Guild of Clockmakers checks that he does that. Jeremy's assistant [[TheIgor Igor]] assures him that he sees Jeremy pour out a spoonful every day -- [[FalseReassurance but doesn't mention that]] [[NoMedicationForMe he then pours it down the drain.]]
** Also from ''Thief of Time'', [[OldMaster Lu Tze]] claims that none of the History Monks know the legendary martial art of ''deja fu''. [[spoiler:Near the end of the book, his apprentice Lobsang finds out the hard way that this is because Lu Tze (who is [[AlmightyJanitor "merely" a senior sweeper, and not a monk]]) never taught it to them.]]
** The oath of the City Watch is used this way by Vimes, who notes that ruler after ruler has failed to notice "what a devious oath it is". The watchmen swear to uphold the laws and protect the public, but it never says one word about obeying orders or serving the ''ruler''.

** Rincewind does this is ''Literature/TheLastHero'', though it is mostly because he wants to start off by making something clear: he does not want to volunteer for the dangerous mission. [[spoiler:He ''is'' volunteering, as he explains afterwards. He doesn't ''want'' to, but he figures [[GotVolunteered he'd somehow end up 'volunteered']] or [[CosmicPlaything just stumbling into it in an effort to get away anyway]], so he volunteers to get it over and done with.]]

** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', the [[WillNotTellALie pathologically truthful]] William de Worde has high hopes for the sentence "I've been talking to to Commander Vimes and now I would like to see the room where the crime was committed", which appears to say Vimes has given him permission without actually doing so. It works on Corporal Nobbs, but not on Sergeant Littlebottom.
** In ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'', the Klatchian EvilChancellor is ranting about being rejected by Unseen University because he was mentally unstable, and demands of Rincewind "Can you believe that?" Rincewind considers some of the wizards he's known who were ''accepted'' by UU, and is able to honestly answer that he can't.
** Another one with Carrot: In ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', Vimes asks why the dwarfs are so agitated and Carrot replies "Hard to say, sir." Vimes, who knows Carrot well by this time, responds "That isn't the same as 'I don't know', is it?"
** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', when the wizards are bickering over how to draw a duck, the Chair of Indefinite Studies asks the Dean "When was the last time you saw a duck that didn't have peas round it?" meaning, of course, a live duck as opposed to one prepared for the table. The Dean, however, retorts "Last week, actually!" because they had crispy duck in plum sauce.
** In ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'', Miss Level, having trouble controlling her second self when it [[spoiler: no longer has a body attached to it]], complains that it's as impossible as not picturing a pink rhinoceros when someone's mentioned one. Granny Weatherwax manages to get her to buck up and start getting the hang of it by telling her with the utmost sincerity that she, Granny, is ''[[HeroicWillpower not]]'' picturing a pink rhinoceros. Then, near the end of the novel, we get this exchange:
--->'''Tiffany:''' You don't know what a rhinoceros looks like, do you?
--->'''Granny:''' (''happily'') That's right!