History Main / AHouseDivided

*** Xavier progressively gets angrier with the other victims until he decides to leave them after the antidote in his game (which he had Amanda do for him) ends up locked. Once he finds out that the each digit of the code to unlock the safe at the beginning room is written on the back of each victim's neck (including himself), he tries to kill everyone in order to get the antidote for himself.

*** Everyone turns against Obi once they find out that he assisted Jigsaw in kidnapping most of them. Likewise, all of them except Amanda turn against Daniel once they find out that he's the son of Eric, who arrested them for numerous crimes they weren't responsible for.

* In ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' [[OnlySaneMan Ben]] and the [[JerkAss Mr. Cooper]] fight over the use of the cellar. Ben believes it should just be a last option, with Mr. Cooper thinking it's their only option and threatens to close everybody else out of the cellar if they don't make up their mind. Eventually things come to a boil in both versions of the film. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it turns out that Cooper may have been right.]] In the underrated remake Ben and Cooper get into a shoot out within the besieged house over the fact that Cooper wouldn't let anyone kill his [[ZombieInfectee daughter]].

* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': Shaun tries, but what divides the house is everybody else being TheMillstone (Ed), a {{Jerkass}} (such as David, though probably an example of JerkassHasAPoint in the case of Peter pointing out that going to the Winchester was a bad idea, and yet he still comes across as jumping the MoralEventHorizon when he tries to shoot Shaun's mom when she's still (barely) alive, ZombieInfectee or not).

* CrazySurvivalist, on occasion fights with both the {{Jerkass}} and the MartyStu.

* The {{Jerkass}}...obviously.
* MartyStu, always at war with the JerkAss
** Similarly an IdealHero

* StrawNihilist,
* IgnoredExpert, OnlySaneMan, and CassandraTruth

* TokenBlackFriend(or just the token black)

* ZombieInfectee, sometimes the main cause of the division

----
Typical Character types that are found in this trope are:

* ActionGirl, Probably resents the Damsel.

*** Everyone turns against Obi once they find out that he was responsible for assisting Jigsaw in kidnapping most of them. Likewise, all of them except Amanda turn against Daniel once they find out that he's the son of Eric, who arrested them for numerous crimes they weren't responsible for.

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* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''
** Between the players of Jigsaw's latest Lethal Game in ''Film/SawII''.
** Inverted in ''Film/SawV'', in that [[spoiler: Jigsaw not only does nothing to promote his captives' squabbling, but arranges things so that cooperation would've greatly reduced the casualties]]. Too bad the prisoners were so determined to act this trope out straight...

--> '''Abraham Lincoln''': A house divided against itself... would be better than this. *flies away on a rocket chair*

* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' is definitely a member of this trope. Although on this particular example what divides the house (most of the time) is that some of the people work for Weyland-Yutani or similar interests and wish to study the Xenomorph to make them weapons... and everybody else is expendable.

** Inbverted in ''Film/SawV'', in that [[spoiler: Jigsaw not only does nothing to promote his captives' squabbling, but arranges things so that cooperation would've greatly reduced the casualties]]. Too bad the prisoners were so determined to act this trope out straight...

!!Examples

--> Kido's faction want the destruction of all neighbors.
--> Shinoda's faction wants to protect the town and people only, but will protect any neighbor in need just as much.
--> Rindō's faction wants to work with the good neighbors.

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness Act III'': Throughout the first few chapters, the ghoul inside Tsukune causes a schism within Tsukune's posse, with some (Moka, Kurumu, and Rason, for example) trusting Tsukune to keep the ghoul contained with the Holy Lock and others (Dark, Mizore, and Felucia, for example) firmly convinced that the ghoul is too dangerous. They all get over it pretty quickly, however.
* ''[[FanFic/IcedFairysANewWorld A New World]]'': Weakened as the Gensokyo forces might be after centuries of isolation, had they the political will to do so, if pooled together they could deliver a lethal ZergRush / CurbStompBattle to the invading Lunarians. However, to Kanako's ire, the two strongest armies (the oni and the tengu) are staying out, the oni because they don't see it as their problem, and the tengu because of potential succession issues, and the most technologically advanced, the kappa, are too cowardly to enter the fray without the tengu. Gensokyo's remaining forces have to make do with the remaining warriors [[spoiler:until the Lunarians seal their doom by unwittingly helping the tengu out, allowing them and the kappa to enter the battle.]]
* This kicks off the plot of ''VideoGame/FlawedCrystals''. Steven decides at literally the last minute that now is a good time to push for ThouShaltNotKill against the other gems, who have all agreed the diamonds need to die and whose plan will only work if they do so without hesitation. As they are about to descend into bickering, Pearl pre-empts the fallout by choosing to drop Steven from the mission; however, this leads to them being corrupted without his shield to protect them from the diamonds' attack.

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'s'' Imperium intentionally invokes this trope with every institution, organization and military unit mistrusting everyone else. This does leave them with a bureaucratic nightmare where military or humanitary aid for worlds may arrive a century after it was needed, but it also keeps the human race comparably safe from the danger of a high-ranking defector. This lesson was learned after two bloody civil wars, one of them tearing humanity out of its early golden age.

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* A subversion of the villainous version happens in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' -- Burton Harris/Ken Lawson plays off the paranoia and reservations of a group of students hanging out in a cottage in order to get the entire uneasy alliance to dissolve. Burton/Ken wasn't exactly a villain though, just a [[{{Jerkass}} dick]] who thought that the place was too crowded.

* ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' features a version of this every season, sometimes even twice a season. Usually before a voting ceremony takes place and after the challenge.
** In Season 3, almost every episode begins and ends with a conflict splitting the group apart into the 'Boy Scouts' and 'Mean Girls'. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And Joey]].

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* In ''Film/DeadBirds'', a gang holes up in an [[OldDarkHouse abandoned farmhouse]] to lay low and divide the loot. Tensions in the gang are already running high, and when unexplainable events push the outlaws deeper into paranoia, it becomes a question of whether they will kill each other before the other horrors in the house come for them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'', the Master Builders are at a huge disadvantage thanks to Lord Business's massively more organized robot troops.
--> '''Abraham Lincoln''': A house divided against itself... would be better than this. *flies away on a rocket chair*

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', there's a [[RightHandVersusLeftHand hardlined military faction called Root that works against the members of Konoha that follow the teachings of the 3rd Hokage, which includes, among others, the main character and the 5th Hokage]]. There are also other factions in the Land of Fire who want the fifth gone. None of these groups particularly liked the third Hokage either.

* ''Anime/TheLostVillage'': As early as episode 2, the 30 people that get to the village together start the infighting and looking for people to blame about the strange occurrences. About halfway through the show, things get violent enough to warrant a [[spoiler:witch hunt against Masaki]] some of which want to kill her, some want to save her and some are trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

* Happens to the girls holed up in the lighthouse in the ''Manga/BattleRoyale'' manga.
** And [[spoiler:they all wind up dead,]] especially the instigator. Oh so much.
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'': The alchemists aboard the ''Advenna Avis'' were already divided in conflict before they received their elixir of life. Immortality should've resolved most of their disputes and rendered the rest futile to continue. But the gifting demon left an escape clause in case they tired of eternal life; they could absorb each other to take all their knowledge and experience. They quickly figured how this might be used against each other.
* In ''Literature/{{Gate}}'', it seems that the Empire isn't in complete control of their lands, as seen in episode 2 when the Emperor orders his allied nations to get slaughtered by the new enemy forces occupying their gate. He later orders the surrounding regions to undergo a SaltTheEarth policy, officially to deny the JSDF from obtaining local resources. But secretly it's meant to further quell any rebellious mood against the Empire.

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': [[spoiler:After learning about Koro-sensei's past, the class gets divided into two factions; those who want to save Koro-sensei's life, and those who want to continue killing him, with Nagisa and Karma leading the respective factions. Koro-sensei declares that it should be settled with a paintball game to prevent this trope from getting too far.]]

* So far the group in ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' comic manages to avoid this...for the most part.
** The core members have learned to trust each other over the constant fear that the other people aren't making the best decisions. EVERY time someone new comes into the fold, the tension surfaces. Time, and sometimes a death or two, will put things back to 'normal'.

* This was pretty much the plot of the "Home Schooling" arc of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''. Victor Mancha inadvertently causes a drone to crash into the Runaways' house, resulting in Klara and Old Lace getting buried beneath rubble. The rubble gets sorted out relatively quickly, but Old Lace dies and Klara loses control of her powers, burying the house in vines. The team then becomes divided over how to deal with the vines, with Chase and Victor preferring to force Klara to retract them while Karolina, Nico and Molly prefer to wait until she's calmed down enough to retract them of her own free will (eventually, Nico uses a magic spell that tranquilizes Klara, but this angers Molly, who considers forcing someone to sleep against their will to be abusive.) Further complications arise when a paramilitary unit arrives to investigate the attack, causing the Runaways to flee the house while Chase abandons the team. Apparently, the arc was supposed to end with them being reunited by a suddenly-revived Gert Yorkes, but the series was cancelled halfway through the arc...

* In ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' [[OnlySaneMan Ben]] and the [[JerkAss Mr. Cooper]] fight over the use of the cellar. Ben believes it should just be a last option, with Mr. Cooper thinking it's their only option and threatens to close everybody else out of the cellar if they don't make up their mind. Eventually things come to a boil in both versions of the film. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it turns out that Cooper may have been right.]] In the underrated remake Ben and Cooper get into a shoot out within the besieged house over the fact that Cooper wouldn't let anyone kill his [[ZombieInfectee daughter]].
** The main plot point from ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'', and also found in the original ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' and [[Film/DawnOfTheDead2004 its remake]], the remake more than the original.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', and referred to as "Cuttlefish in a barrel".
* In John Carpenter's version of ''Film/TheThing1982'', The researchers at Outpost 31 turn on each other when they realize the alien could imitate anyone. Paranoia and intense tension build up, resulting in one of the most bone chilling endings ever made.
** The 1951 version, ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'', centers on a conflict between the scientists and the military over how to best deal with the alien creature (which is a more conventional monster rather than a shape-shifter).
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''
** Between the players of Jigsaw's latest Lethal Game in ''Film/SawII''.
** Inbverted in ''Film/SawV'', in that [[spoiler: Jigsaw not only does nothing to promote his captives' squabbling, but arranges things so that cooperation would've greatly reduced the casualties]]. Too bad the prisoners were so determined to act this trope out straight...
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': Shaun tries, but what divides the house is everybody else being TheMillstone (Ed), a {{Jerkass}} (such as David, though probably an example of JerkassHasAPoint in the case of Peter pointing out that going to the Winchester was a bad idea, and yet he still comes across as jumping the MoralEventHorizon when he tries to shoot Shaun's mom when she's still (barely) alive, ZombieInfectee or not).
--> '''Shaun''': As Bertrand Russell once said, "The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation." I think we can all appreciate the relevance of that now.
** "You read that on a beer mat, didn't you?"
* The latter portion of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', where the cast are at odds with surviving military members.

** Juno also accidentally [[spoiler:mortally wounded one of her friends (Beth) in the cave thinking she was one of the cave dwelling monsters. And left her there to die]] and tried to cover it up. When Sarah comes across the [[spoiler:injured Beth, Beth explains what happened (including info about the affair Juno had) . And tells Sarah not to trust Juno,]] essentially putting the proverbial nail in the coffin of Sarah and Juno's friendship.. Of course [[spoiler:karma is a bitch, as Juno [[KarmicDeath sufferers the consequences]]]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation (unfairly or not)]].
* A literal example (well actually an apartment complex) in the films ''Film/{{REC}}'', and ''Film/{{Quarantine}}''. The inhabitants never fully reach this level seeing as how the [[TheVirus infection happens so fast]] people rarely get the chance to argue with one another. Although they came DANGEROUSLY close to this trope during the initial panic.
* ''Film/TheBeastOfWar'' is a forgotten war movie from 1988, depicting the struggle between a Soviet tank crew and their mujahadeen opponents. Not all the conflict takes place outside the tank. The commander shoots his Afghan translator, convinced he's working with the enemy, and when another soldier threatens to report the killing he's tied to a rock and booby-trapped for the mujahadeen to find.
* In ''Film/NightAtTheMuseumBattleOfTheSmithsonian'', Larry [[ChekhovsGun remembers some advice the (animated) Lincoln Memorial gave him]], and begins taunting the villains and playing them against each other. Ultimately, their inability to work together proves to be the ultimate reason for their defeat.
-->'''Lincoln Memorial''': A house divided cannot stand.
* The Stephen King story and movie, ''Film/TheMist.'' A military project codenamed 'Operation Arrowhead' has gone awry and a quaint Maine town is shrouded in mist that happens to be filled with flesh-eating monsters from another dimension. A lucky few residents are able to barricade themselves in the local supermarket. TheFundamentalist Mrs. Carmody preaches that this is all an act of God for landing people on the moon and homosexuality. Yes, really. Yet as people start getting picked off by the monsters, most of the people in the store let their fear get the better of them and start listening to Mrs. Carmody's sermons, save for a level-headed group that find themselves outcast and fearing for their lives after Mrs. Carmody has her followers sacrifice one of the townspeople to the monsters. When they decide that they would rather face the monsters then face a religious nut, Mrs. Carmody tries to stop them and utters her final words, 'Kill them all!' before she is finally put in her place with a BoomHeadshot.
* Happens to a small group of teenagers on a plane in the film ''Film/{{Altitude}}''.
* ''Film/SurvivalOfTheDead.'' Only it's more like an '''island''' divided. The O'Flynns and the Muldoons have such a sharp family rivalry that [[spoiler:they don't even pay attention to the zombies killing everyone around them during the final showdown at the end. And they don't let up, either. ''Not even when they become infected themselves.'']] Tsk, tsk.

* ''Film/WelcomeToTheJungle'' is essentially ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' with corporate executives instead of children.
* In ''Film/DeadBirds'', a gang holes up in an [[OldDarkHouse abandoned farmhouse]] to lay low and divide the loot. Tensions in the gang are already running high, and when unexplainable events push the outlaws deeper into paranoia, it becomes a question of whether they will kill each other before the other horrors in the house come for them.
* ''Film/AwaitFurtherInstructions'' follows this course as the commands from the television - assumed to be from the government - become more and more sinister. As Nick puts it near the climax - "We've done this to ourselves."

* The story ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'' by Creator/JohnWCampbell, which provided the inspiration for the movie ''Film/TheThing1982''. A FaceStealer alien is thawed out, and proceeds to start killing people in an isolated Antarctic research station. Everybody is understandably paranoid and scared to death. Besides being eaten to death of course.
* Much of Creator/TanyaHuff's ''[[Literature/SmokeAndShadows Smoke and Mirrors]]''--in which a television crew gets locked in a HauntedHouse--consists of this trope; they don't descend to killing each other, but... not by much.
* In the Creator/StephenKing short story "Literature/TheMist", this happens to around 80 people stuck in a supermarket. The main threat is a deeply religious woman who urges the others to make a blood sacrifice to stop the monsters outside.

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', wizards have a weird, formalized version of this. Wizards get along about as well as a sackful of soggy cats, something apparently programmed into them at a ''genetic'' level (or at least the level that passes for genetics on the Disc). Unseen University was created to redirect that murderous energy into a strict hierarchy where a cutting note could do nearly as much damage to one's opponent as a hurled fireball, but with a much smaller risk of bystanders being turned into charcoal (or possibly haddocks). They still cheerfully murder one another with creative booby traps, but things have settled somewhat now, since the current head of the University has proven himself more or less unkillable (and he sleeps with [[GunsAkimbo two loaded crossbows]], although he's a kind man and probably won't shoot you in ''both'' ears).
* Machiavelli in ''Literature/DiscoursesOnLivy'' believes that this is one of the reasons for a republic's ''strength'', since it allows the right leader to come to the fore at the right time.
* Seen in ''Literature/StarTrekGemworld'' during a crisis, when the six races of Gemworld, and their leaders, fail to work together succesfully. Barclay calls them out on it, by appealing to the GoodOldWays:
-->"This is not how your ancestors survived, by ignoring a problem...The inhabitants of Gemworld have gotten soft. You prefer to bicker and fix blame instead of finding a solution. I'm sorry...that's not how the Ancients would have faced this ...The question is - will you act like your ancestors? Will you do what it takes to survive? Or would you prefer to hide in this room and bicker?”
* The lighthugger ''[[CoolStarShip Nostalgia For Infinity]]'' in ''Literature/RevelationSpace''. Despite having a crew of ''six'' ([[ManInTheMachine seven]] if [[HumanPopsicle you're generous]]), almost the [[SpacePirates entire crew]] hate each other's guts and are willing to murder each other. The only two characters that get along are [[CyBorg Hegazi]] and [[IceQueen Volyova]], or Volyova and [[ActionGirl Khouri]]
* The good guys in Creator/JRRTolkien's works are all too prone to this. The elven factions in Beleriand are one example. Another would be the mistrust between Arnor and Gondor, and the various succession crises, secessions, and outright civil wars within the realms, which give Sauron opportunities to weaken and (in the case of Arnor) eventually destroy an enemy he couldn't take on all at once. It looks like the Ring-war is going the same way (Rohan occupied with internal problems, and the southern fiefs of Gondor reserving most of their manpower to defend their coastlines) until Gandalf and Aragorn shake things up.
** It happens to the orcs, too. Merry and Pippin are able to escape when Saruman's orcs fight Sauron's orcs over who gets the captives; then the Riders of Rohan wipe out the remaining orcs. Similarly, the Minas Morgul orcs fight the Barad-dur orcs over Frodo, and all but one are killed, whereupon Sam, coming to the rescue, kills the last one.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has this as a recurring theme played straight, subverted and deconstructed in many flavours, both in the backstory (the split between the Targaryens and Blackfyres is a classic example) and the main (the three-way Baratheon split couldn't play it straighter). [[{{Realpolitik}} Of]] [[DecadentCourt course]] [[BigScrewedUpFamily it]] [[RoyallyScrewedUp happens]] [[TheClan depressingly]] [[DysfunctionJunction often]]: [[ManipulativeBastard with]] [[SnarkToSnarkCombat bells]] [[CrapsackWorld on]]. It's safe to say that ''any'' House or [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering institution]] is at risk when they all play the Game of Thrones. No exceptions. Moving one stage further and hitting DividedWeFall occurs, too [[spoiler: (the Freys, Karstarks, Greyjoys and even the Lannisters face this as an increasingly likely outcome of their inner rivalries)]]. Some [[FireForgedFriends manage to pull through]], however battered: the rarer cases, these (the Night's Watch has a long, chequered history of [[WeAreStrugglingTogether falling apart at the seams, patching it as required and soldiering on kind of as a unit]]... to then repeat the process all over again down the line).

* Happens from time to time on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Often a main character will stop the fighting and remind everyone that there are other threats to their survival without them turning on each other. Jack, Locke, and Hurley have delivered such speeches, beginning with Jack's "live together, die alone" speech in an early episode.
** One interesting example, from season two: Sawyer and Michael, essentially LockedInARoom on the wreckage of their raft, start bickering about whose fault it was that [[spoiler:Walt was kidnapped by the Others]]. This becomes the issue that their being LockedInARoom allows them to overcome.

* The ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street".
* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Abduction", an alien kidnaps five high-school students, and tells them that one must be killed. They must decide which of them it will be. And of course they're from completely different social groups. Ray, a typical jock, Danielle, the hottest girl in school, Jason, a stereotypical geek, Brianna, a devout religious girl, and Cody, a social outcast. So needless to say they don't get along. But then again it was a test. And the ensemble was picked for that very reason.
* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'' episode "No Exit" features most of the major characters being LockedInARoom... that's trying to kill them. Their bickering and political differences lead to [[spoiler: Shawn and Meghan's deaths]], and in the end [[spoiler: Jordan and Tom need to work past their personal differences to save the others.]] Interestingly, the whole situation had been caused [[spoiler:by a 4400 with the power to create a HolodeckMalfunction mass illusion in people's heads that was sick and tired of Jordan's and Tom's fighting (and him being one of the people caught in the middle) and wanted it to stop. They ('''especially''' [[WellIntentionedExtremist Jordan]]) made it perfectly clear that once the situation was resolved they would just go back to fighting as usual.]]
* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS04E06SpinTheBottle Spin the Bottle]]" when the cast were regressed to their 17 year old versions and trapped in the hotel. They all belong to the types listed in the header: Angel (MartyStu), Gunn (BaldBlackLeaderGuy), Fred (DistressedDamsel), Cordelia (DamselScrappy by that time), and Wesley ({{Jerkass}}).
* Also happens in the ''Series/{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]" when Spike turns the Scoobies against one another.
* In the ''Series/{{Haven}}'' episode "[[Recap/HavenS3E6RealEstate Real Estate]]", the house is a malevolent GeniusLoci that uses the characters' pre-existing tensions against them, culminating in a three-way MexicanStandoff.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': This came up in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E02TheShip The Ship]]", when Captain Sisko and crew have to take shelter in a crashed Jem'Hadar fighter while more Jem'Hadar are shelling their position. Most of the tension is between O'Brien and Worf over how to deal with a dying RedShirt (O'Brien wants him to keep fighting for life, while Worf implies killing him to spare his suffering), though everyone gets into the act.
-->'''Sisko:''' I know it's hot. We're filthy, tired, and we've got ten isontons of explosives going off outside. But we will never get out of this if we don't pull it together and start to ''act like professionals''!

* This is a big part of the collapse of the Barksdale Organization in Season 3 of ''Series/TheWire''. Avon Barksdale and his longtime [[TheConsigliere Consigliere]] and [[BloodBrothers Blood Brother]] Stringer Bell had turned the group into the most powerful drug empire in Baltimore prior to the start of the show. However, when Avon goes to jail at the end of Season 1 and when Stringer has to guide the group, he comes to believe that Avon's brutal methods of controlling the drug trade by force will no longer work, and turns the organization to more legitimate business and cooperating with other gangs. When Avon gets out of prison he disdains Stringer's goal of going legit and has a JustAGangster attitude, and this conflict of leadership and a MobWar with new, DarkerAndEdgier gang that is more ruthless than Avon ever was results in the most of the organization being arrested or killed.

* Then there's the Realm in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', now that the Scarlet Empress has vanished. The Anathema are on the loose, new and sinister forms have emerged, one Realm outpost has been conquered by a Deathlord, the Bull of the North is on the rampage, and the most likely outcome within the Realm itself is all-out civil war over the Scarlet Throne.
* Happens regularly in ''TabletopGames/BattleTech'', the five great houses generally have infighting among themselves from time to time. The most prominent example is House Marik, which broke up into four factions after the Jihad. The Clans also have this a lot, they are divided into two groups the Crusaders, and the Wardens who have conflicting views on Kerensky's legacy.

* This drives the plot of ''The Answer'' episode of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' where the main cast argue on how to use the Keys in the Abyss of Time. Yukari wants to go back in time to [[spoiler:prevent the protagonist's death]], and Mitsuru ends up supporting her. Akihiko and Ken believe that they should return to the present. Junpei (as well as [[TeamPet Koromaru]]) leans more toward Akihiko's side, but believes that they should only make a decision they agree on as a group. The rest of the group is undecided. [[spoiler:The issue is ultimately resolved by Aigis and Metis, supported by Fuuka, defeating the other three pairs, forming the combined key and deciding to confront Erebus before returning to the present]].

* A subversion of the villainous version happens in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' - Burton Harris/Ken Lawson plays off the paranoia and reservations of a group of students hanging out in a cottage in order to get the entire uneasy alliance to dissolve. Burton/Ken wasn't exactly a villain though, just a [[{{Jerkass}} dick]] who thought that the place was too crowded.

** In season three, almost every episode begins and ends with a conflict splitting the group apart into the 'Boy Scouts' and 'Mean Girls'. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And Joey]].

Subtrope of DividedWeFall. May be caused by an ArtifactOfAttraction or other AppleOfDiscord. Compare GoldFever. When this erupts into a full-scale war, particularly within a country, you have a CivilWar.

* This kicks off the plot of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fangame ''VideoGame/FlawedCrystals''. Steven decides at literally the last minute that now is a good time to push for ThouShaltNotKill against the other gems, who have all agreed the diamonds need to die and whose plan will only work if they do so without hesitation. As they are about to descend into bickering, Pearl pre-empts the fallout by choosing to drop Steven from the mission; however, this leads to them being corrupted without his shield to protect them from the diamonds' attack.

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS04E14SpinTheBottle Spin the Bottle]]" when the cast were regressed to their 17 year old versions and trapped in the hotel. They all belong to the types listed in the header: Angel (MartyStu), Gunn (BaldBlackLeaderGuy), Fred (DistressedDamsel), Cordelia (DamselScrappy by that time), and Wesley ({{Jerkass}}).

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'' when the cast were regressed to their 17 year old versions and trapped in the hotel. They all belong to the types listed in the header: Angel (MartyStu), Gunn (BaldBlackLeaderGuy), Fred (DistressedDamsel), Cordelia (DamselScrappy by that time), and Wesley (JerkAss).

* The story ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'' by Creator/JohnWCampbell, which provided the inspiration for the movie ''Film/TheThing1982''. A [[ShapeShifter shape-shifting]] alien is thawed out, and proceeds to start killing people in an isolated Antarctic research station. Everybody is understandably paranoid and scared to death. Besides being eaten to death of course.

* BlackBestFriend (or just the token black)