History Main / FakeDefector

* In an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', Max is "fired" from CONTROL and becomes a drunk, all part of a scheme to get him approached by KAOS so he can learn their latest evil plan.
** It turns out to be somewhat pointless, as it turned out that the KAOS unit was long defunct and being run by [[FlockOfWolves infiltrators]] from various government agencies.

* During season 2 in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', almost every student from the Obelisk Dorm or Ra Dorm gets brainwashed after being defeated and joins the Society of Light. However, it is strongly implied that Daichi Misawa fakes being brainwashed as his goal was only to join the Society of Light, so he will be acknowledged as a good duelist and not be ignored. Unlike others, he lost on purpose to join the Society and he never shows any arrogance like the other members, shows the expression of wanting to challenge the leader Saiou, and notably, he does not lose a duel to "snap out". While he's clearly on the side of the villains at that time, he is not antagonizing the heroes either.

* Conrad pulls one of these in ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh''.

* In the ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' anime, Arashi joins the Dragons of Earth to save her boyfriend Sorata from sacrificing himself for her. When Fuuma [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten gives her the order to kill him though]], she betrays him. Sorata ''almost'' manages to take Fuuma down... but he still ends up dying for her sake.

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys'', it seems that all the titular characters have undergone a HeelFaceTurn except for Mr. Snake, who forms a BigBadDuumvirate with Marmalade. Once almost all has been said and done, however, Snake reveals that shortly after leaving the gang's hideout, he realized that he still had a conscience after all, and used the Bad Guys' breaking up as an alibi for making a false alliance with Marmalade and sabotaging the latter's scheme from within. It's a clever BatmanGambit on Snake's part since the fact that Marmalade was so caught up in his own sadistic pride over walking over others for his own ends prevented him from even suspecting, until it was much too late, that Snake's offer to join him wasn't genuine.

* A long-term example in ''Film/TheGoodShepherd'', where a Soviet defector named Valentin Mironov spends years working with [[Creator/MattDamon Edward Wilson]] in Wilson's counterintelligence unit. Another Soviet defector later shows up to claim that he's the real Mironov, while the first one is actually Yuri Modin, a KGB agent. They don't believe the second "Mironov" and torture him until he jumps out a window to his death (it doesn't help that he's dosed with LSD at that point). The first "Mironov" offers to take a polygraph test to prove that he is who he says he is, but Wilson refuses. Later, though, Wilson shows up on Mironov's doorstep in the middle of the night and demands that Mironov play his accordion. When Mironov agrees and asks why, Wilson replies that he wanted to finally hear something from "Mironov" that was true. Obviously, he figured out that the second "Mironov" was the real deal.

'''Garak:''' You mean no-one told you? You see, I pretend to be their friend... and then I shoot you. ''[shoots him]''

* In ''FanFic/LovehammerInc'' Angron feigns pledging his Legion's allegiance to Khorne, before turning upon the War God's army and personally attacking Khorne's greatest champion.

* Kyra joins the Necromongers in ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', only to help Riddick when he faces the Lord Marshal in the final fight. Of course, when she joined them, she thought that Riddick was dead. It's only when he comes back does she decide to help him.

* Wolf of ''[[Series/TheTenthKingdom The 10th Kingdom]]'' is a particularly well-done version of this trope. It keeps you guessing, even right up to the very end, which side he will truly turn out to be on. It helps that, as a deconstruction of many fairy tale tropes, Happy Ever After was not guaranteed by any means, and the ending [[BittersweetEnding still remains rather dark]]…

* Subverted in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' game by Servant Archer]], defecting to one side, betraying them, then turning around and attacking his original side, revealing himself to have been [[ThePlan acting in his own personal interests all along]].

* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6287337/1/The_Chong_Sheng_Trilogy_Revolution The Chong Sheng Trilogy's]]'' third installment, Mai does this in a particularly horrifying example. Subverted slightly in that she's also trying to avoid execution with the rest of Zuko's advisors. In order to prove it, she's [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten forced to torture a captured Zuko]] while Katara is ForcedToWatch. Zuko buys the act completely at first, but Mai lets him know her true intentions by the marks she carves into his arms]].

* Zecora in ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria''. Tragically, her plan to assassinate the Zebra Caesar might have worked if she hadn't ran into [[SociopathicSoldier Applesnack]] during her 'escape'. He beat her to death.]]

* ''Blog/MiraculousRewrite'' has Chloe/Chesire pull one of these, exploiting the way that Scorpion has convinced himself [[TheCorrupter he can manipulate her]]. Unfortunately, since they don't ''warn'' their comrades ahead of time about their intentions, [[PoorCommunicationKills this leads to]] Master Fu erasing his memories, believing that she's going to lead the Old Order straight to him]].

* ''Fanfic/ObitoSensei'': Sakura is tasked by [[SparedByTheAdaptation Minato]] with being this to Amegakure, on the basis that they'd already reached out to her during the Chunin Exams, and she is legitimately sympathetic to their cause (to an extent)]]. Much to everyone's surprise, however, [[TrueCompanions Sasuke and Naruto]] join her, because [[YouAreNotAlone they're unwilling to let her brave that danger all by herself]].
* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'': During the heroes' infiltration of Irk, [[RobotBuddy CB]] pretends to revert to the [[AIIsACrapshoot genocidal AI]] that [[IHatePastMe he was based on]] in order to get close to and undermine the Control Brains]]. This is played for serious drama, as he comes up with this plan on the spur of the moment out of desperation, and doesn't have a chance to warn the others of what he's planning, leaving them feeling betrayed.

* In the film version of ''Film/AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter'', Lincoln's friend Speed pretends to sell Lincoln out to the vampires as part of a BatmanGambit to lure [[BigBad Adam]] into a trap. Unfortunately, he pays with his life]].

** ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndTheRingsOfSaturn'': Lucky Starr allows himself to be captured by Earth's enemies, the Sirians, and then gives away one of his fellow Councilmen of Science to the Sirians and testifies about his betrayal for Sirius at an interstellar conference. Of course, it's all an elaborate ploy to get on the stand and present testimony that is devastating to Sirius.]] The act is especially hard on Lucky's sidekick and best friend Bigman, [[WeWouldHaveToldYouBut who believes Lucky is turning traitor in exchange for his, Bigman's, life.

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E17Enemies Enemies]]", Angel pretends to have turned into his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide evil alter ego]] Angelus. Buffy is in on the plan, but the audience doesn't find out until [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the moment when Angel reveals himself.]]

** Nobunaga and Hideyoshi's routes have Mitsuhide pretend to betray the Oda forces to get information on their enemies and/or lure them into a trap. This is quite easy for Mitsuhide to pull off, as he's an ''incredibly'' shady-looking and acting guy who was already attracting speculation about whether he might be the one who attempted to assassinate Nobunaga at Honno-ji (which ''was'' true in the original historical timeline, but not in the alternate one the main character is in)]].

* Darth Maul attempts to do this in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', pretending to betray Palpatine for Nute Gunray.]] Unfortunately, Gunray sees right through it.

Every so often, a hero (usually a police officer or spy) will pretend to go to TheDarkSide in order to reach the BigBad. This is not the same as TheInfiltration; in this case, the hero keeps his true identity, but convinces the bad guys that his loyalties have switched. Frequently many of the good guys end up believing it too.

The hero will often have to persuade the bad guys of his authenticity by [[ShootYourMate attacking one of his 'old' comrades]] or [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten doing something else evil]]. Another frequent tactic is for the hero ''not'' to contact the bad guys, but instead just arrange for his life to fall apart -- get fired from his job, start to drink, and so on -- and wait for his enemies to contact him.

'''As a betrayal trope, many examples will contain spoilers.'''

* [[spoiler:Chiyuri]] from ''Literature/AccelWorld'' ended up in this for [[spoiler:joining Dusk Taker]], but it turns out [[spoiler:she didn't. She only sticks on his side to become strong enough and see that her ability known as 'Citron Call' can reverse time to give back Haru's wings that Nomi has stolen from him.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'' [[spoiler:Himekawa pretends to desert his TrueCompanions in favor of a stronger guy. Turns out the machine everyone thought was helping his new crew out was actually storing up Baby Beel's energy until it was enough to handle Takamiya and Lucifer. Himekawa proceeds to destroy the million-dollar machine to release the energy the second he has confirmation that it is enough and dismisses the loss as "pocket change" before revealing he held Beel's third crest all along, all but stating that his loyalty has always been to Oga.]]

** [[spoiler: Byakuya]] does a pretty good one in the Zanpakuto arc. The ally he has to kill is [[spoiler: his sister Rukia's Zanpakuto, Sodeno Shirayuki]], and he does it without flinching [[TheStoic (of course)]].
** [[spoiler:Uryu Ishida]] pretends to join the Vandenreich in an attempt to assassinate their leader, Yhwach. However, Yhwach sees through the ploy immediately and [[KickedUpstairs appoints him his successor]], meaning everybody's eyes will be on him and an assassination attempt will be all but impossible. [[spoiler:While Uryu's assassination attempt was on a far bigger scale than merely a sneak attack on Yhwach (namely, spreading the innocuous-looking components of a ''FantasticNuke'' all over Yhwach's palace to wipe out the entire Vandenreich, to be triggered while Yhwach is sleeping), [[TheDragon right-hand-man Haschwalth]] figures out his plan anyway.]]
* [[spoiler:Hinata]] from ''Manga/BloodyCross''. At first it looks like he's a traitor who tried to kill Tsukimiya and sided with Arcana, but it turns out he's a fake defector who's still working for Tsuduki.
* [[spoiler: Rowan Dietrich]] from Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner becomes this during the last arc.
* ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'': [[spoiler:Kurata rolls out the red carpet Touma to do this. Touma goes so far as to get into a fistfight with Masaru and nearly kills Ikuto and Yatagaramon.]]

* [[spoiler:Gajeel]] was revealed to be one of these for the ''Manga/FairyTail'' guild.
** Also Gray in a filler arc. [[spoiler:Gray does this a second time, along with Levy, in the manga's Avatar mini-arc.]]
* [[spoiler:Saruhiko Fushimi]] does this ''brilliantly'' in ''[[Anime/{{K}} K: Return of Kings]]''. Since he is one of the few Clansman known to have left one Clan to join another, he and his King use that reputation, stage a fight in front of the whole Clan, and have him storm off and [[spoiler: reactivate his JUNGLE account]], making it look like a regular case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. When his true plan and choices are revealed, it turns ''everything'' that has been shown of that character so far on its head. His King even goes to the Clansman of his old Clan who still holds a grudge over his original "betrayal", and tells him that there is one way for the Fake Defector to survive - that is, to actually betray his King and join the Clan he's infiltrating. "You are his friend, and know him well. Do you think that's something he would do?" And even that character knows it isn't.
* [[spoiler:Conrad]] pulls one of these in ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh''.

** The audience is not let in on the arrangement, nor is any other living hero. We are given blatant foreshadowing of the apparent FaceHeelTurn about three minutes before TheReveal.
*** [[spoiler:Conrad]] wears a similar coat and has a similar scene in the same arena in season three, and you can see Yuuri's stomach turn over as he says half-jokingly 'not this again.' Conrad reassures him. Then he [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome declares his own bid]] for the Shimaron throne [[RefugeInAudacity on the strength of]] an unbroken family line that lost power ''four hundred years ago.'' Certainly messes with everyone's [[ThePlan plans.]]
** The fact that they ''still have'' [[spoiler: Conrad's severed left arm in its original sleeve]] while he's walking around with two working arms is a big tip-off that something more convoluted happened than just the most loyal person ever deciding to betray his king, or even BrainwashedAndCrazy. [[spoiler: It's basically 'cause GodIsEvil. Or..possessed by evil. Basically God is playing XanatosSpeedChess with himself, without anyone else suspecting there's more than one will nudging the pieces. Yuuri is the culmination of the good ''and'' evil plots, because there's no way either of them would have succeeded in getting there if they hadn't built on the other's foundations for their own purposes. YouCantFightFate and yet he very much has a choice and control.]]
* In ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords2004'', [[spoiler:Vio]] pulled this off in order to learn of Shadow Link's plans, even [[spoiler:knocking out Green]] in order to prove his "loyalty".

## To [[BreakTheHaughty knock Tomoe off her high horse]], [[BatmanGambit knowing fully well that]] she would take the first opportunity to sell them all out. [[spoiler:The first part succeeds easily, but the second? Not so much, as Tomoe is too [[{{Pride}} stubborn]] to be swayed into a HeelFaceTurn, and [[VillainousBreakdown snaps]] instead]].

** It is implied in the beginning of the Manaphy movie that Jack Walker had to pull off a fake defection in order to get close to Phantom and retrieve Manaphy's egg to prevent him from accessing the Samiyan Sea Temple.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler:Itachi Uchiha]] of the criminal organization Akatsuki is revealed after his death to have been a double agent who was loyal to [[spoiler:Konoha]] the entire time. In fact, the real reason [[spoiler:he killed his entire clan]] was to prevent a civil war which would have devastated the village; in exchange, his superiors promised that they would [[spoiler:spare his brother Sasuke.]] Viewing his previous behavior in light of this revelation makes it pretty clear that he was doing best to delay Akatsuki and not kill anyone.

** [[spoiler:X. Drake]]'s backstory had him join the Marines and then quitting to become a pirate, [[GenerationXerox just like his father]]. However, it turns out he only pretended to quit, and is actually a deep-cover spy for a secret division of the Marines with Coby.

* In the GrandFinale of ''Anime/SailorMoon'', [[spoiler:Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune do this, and even [[ShootYourMate kill Pluto and Saturn]]]] in order to gain Sailor Galaxia's trust ([[DisneyDeath don't worry, they get better]]). Of course, as it turns out, they only did it because the AppliedPhlebotinum handed out to Galaxia's henchmen was the only weapon that could defeat her. [[spoiler: Or so it seemed.]]

** In an earlier arc, Sailor Moon herself feigned a falling out with the other senshi and attempted to join the Dark Kingdom so she could find the entrance to the Dark Kingdom. [[spoiler: Pity she tried this on the most cunning of the Dark Kingdom's servants...]]
* In the Hades saga of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', all of the Gold Saints who died during the events of the 12 Temples arc are resurrected after swearing loyalty to Hades, God of the Underworld. Thus, they lead an invasion to the Sanctuary with the intent of assassinating Athena, [[spoiler:eventually succeeding it]]. We then learn that the reason behind their betrayal was to [[spoiler: a)kill Athena so she can awaken her Eighth Sense and descend into Hades's Underworld without being bound by its rules, and b)shed the Goddess's blood in order to resurrect Athena's Cloth so she can use it to fight the Lord of the Underworld.]]
* [[spoiler: Yukimura]] pulls one in ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo''.
* Soul Eater in the first episode of ''Manga/SoulEater'' [[spoiler:when he seemingly left Maka to be Blair's weapon]]. It's hard to tell if Maka was in on it, but if so, she's quite the actor.

* In the ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' anime, Arashi joins the Dragons of Earth to save her boyfriend Sorata from sacrificing himself for her. When Fuuma [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten gives her an order to kill him though]], she betrays him. [[spoiler: Sorata ''almost'' manages to take Fuuma down... but he still ends up dying for her sake.]]
* During season 2 in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', almost every student from the Obelisk Dorm or Ra Dorm gets brainwashed after being defeated and joins the Society of Light. However, it is strongly implied that Daichi Misawa fakes being brainwashed as his goal was only to join the Society of Light, so he will be acknowledged as a good duelist and not being ignored. Unlike others, he lost on purpose to join the Society and he never shows any arrogance like the other members, shows expression of wanting to challenge the leader Saiou, and notably, he does not lose a duel to "snap out". While he's clearly on the side of the villains at that time, he is not antagonizing the heroes either.
* In the manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', it turns out [[spoiler: Storm Eagle was still loyal. Unfortunately, he had to keep up appearances, and X was too strong. Zero only tells X after Storm Eagle is fatally wounded.]]
* In the manga version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', the Repliforce announces their intention to secede from humanity and launch an independent Reploid nation as part of a coup d'etat against the human governments, resentful over the fact they were accused of being Mavericks and ordered to turn in their weapons. Zero pretends to go along with Repliforce's rebellion in order to find Colonel, and goes [[https://lh4.ggpht.com/-812ewIGv9lQ/U8-UMIK8G1I/AAAAAAAAIFo/u11n8PK6ju8/s2000/x4_01_079.jpggoes as far as to slash X with his saber to sell the act]].

* Comicbook/{{Nightwing}} becomes a fake defector in the year following the ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' storyline. This was done to give him additional credibility among several rival gangs. His success is debatable; on one hand Slade asks him to train his daughter Rose as the new Ravager, but on the other hand, his actions lead to an encounter with Comicbook/{{Superman}}. Revealing both Slade's insight and foresight, [[spoiler: Slade prepares a gizmo to give Nightwing's heartbeat the sound of a truthful man rather than a liar]].

* ''Franchise/StarWars: ComicBook/DarkEmpire'' had Luke Skywalker falling to the Dark Side, if only to try to bring it down from within.

* ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} does this is ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers'', pretending to join [[spoiler:Magneto and a temporarily insane Scarlet Witch.]] He soon gets discovered, though, because he did everything he could to avoid [[ShootYourMate harming the Avengers]].

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Paula, on at least two separate occasions, uses her old Nazi contacts to ComicBook/SteveTrevor and Diana's benefit by pretending to have "escaped" the Allies to return to her old allegiances (a group she worked for under duress in the first place) and just slip right back in as an Nazi agent. This didn't work too well the second time as the officer suspected something was up and she needed to be rescued, but she was able to lead the good guys to the local Nazi headquarters.

* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6287337/1/The_Chong_Sheng_Trilogy_Revolution The Chong Sheng Trilogy's]]'' third installment, [[spoiler:Mai does this]] in a particularly horrifying example. Subverted slightly in that she's also trying to avoid execution with the rest of Zuko's advisors. In order to prove it, [[spoiler:she's [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten forced to torture a captured Zuko]] while Katara is ForcedToWatch. Zuko buys the act completely at first, but Mai lets him know her true intentions by the marks she carves into his arms]].
* In ''Fanfic/WinterWar'', [[spoiler:Hisagi]] apparently defected to Aizen during the Fake Karakura Town battle when it became obvious [[TheBadGuyWins that he was going to win]]. He did so at Yamamoto's orders... but with Yamamoto and everyone else who was in on it dead, LaResistance believes he defected for real. Even when he contacts them and offers to help them [[StormingTheCastle invade Hueco Mundo]], they have no way of knowing if he's genuinely on their side... and neither does the reader, until we get a chapter in his POV a while later.
* [[spoiler:Zecora]] in ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria''. Tragically, her plan to assassinate the Zebra Caesar might have worked if [[spoiler:she hadn't ran into [[SociopathicSoldier Applesnack]] during her 'escape'. He beat her to death.]]

* In ''Fanfic/TalesOfBleachUnrealSociety'' [[spoiler:Orihime]] joins Cruxis as one of its Seraphim, but in reality [[spoiler:she is on Kratos' side]]. Considering the person involved and a conversation that happens before this incident, the fact that it's this trope and not a true and tried FaceHeelTurn should be obvious.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11999389/1/The-Rehabilitation-of-Dawn-Bellwether The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether]]'', after finding that the new conspiracy is led by [[spoiler:her own abusive father, Aster Bellwether]], who intends to [[spoiler:perform multiple simultaneous terrorist attacks all over Zootopia to make it a prey-only city, and ultimately a sheep-only city]], Dawn seems to revert to her old predator-hating ways. However, as soon as the other conspirators are distracted, [[spoiler:she sabotages a pump, unleashing the deadly night howler gas upon them [[HeroicSacrifice and herself]], giving her real friends a chance to escape]].
* In the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic series ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/722013 in dreams you follow (but I dream in the dark)]]'', [[spoiler:Kiba is ordered by Tsunade to kill Danzo and defect to the Akatsuki to act as a [[TheMole spy]], and only Tsunade and Genma know that he's loyal to Konoha - the rest of the village and the Rookie Nine see him as a [[EvilFormerFriend traitor]]]].
* ''Blog/MiraculousRewrite'' has [[spoiler:Chloe/Chesire]] pull one of these, exploiting the way that [[spoiler:Scorpion has convinced himself [[TheCorrupter he can manipulate her]]]]. Unfortunately, since they don't ''warn'' their comrades ahead of time about their intentions, [[PoorCommunicationKills this leads to]] [[spoiler:Master Fu erasing his memories, believing that she's going to lead the Old Order straight to him]].

* ''Fanfic/ObitoSensei'': [[spoiler: Sakura]] is tasked by [[SparedByTheAdaptation Minato]] with being this [[spoiler: to Amegakure]], on the basis that [[spoiler: they'd already reached out to her during the Chunin Exams, and she is legitimately sympathetic to their cause (to an extent)]]. Much to everyone's surprise, however, [[spoiler: [[TrueCompanions Sasuke and Naruto]] join her, because [[YouAreNotAlone they're unwilling to let her brave that danger all by herself]]]].
* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'': During the heroes' infiltration of Irk, [[spoiler: [[RobotBuddy CB]] pretends to revert to the [[AIIsACrapshoot genocidal AI]] that [[IHatePastMe he was based on]] in order to get close to and undermine the Control Brains]]. This is played for serious drama, as he comes up with this plan on the spur of the moment out of desperation, and doesn't have a chance to warn the others of what he's planning, leaving them feeling betrayed.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24862639 If I’m evil, and you’re evil, then who’s stopping Hawkmoth?]]''. Multimouse/Marinette is captured by Hawkmoth and Mayura, and pretends to defect to their side so she can act as a triple agent. However, she is spotted by Aspix/Adrien who, knowing her civilian identity and wanting to save her from becoming evil, also becomes a fake defector after using Second Chance. This leads Marinette to continue her fake defector role so she can stop Adrien, who she knows is Aspix, from being evil. So now both of them are pretending to be villains fighting against [[SecondSuperIdentity Ladybug and Chat Noir]] while trying to persuade the other not to be evil.

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys'', it seems that all the titular characters have undergone a HeelFaceTurn except for Mr. Snake, who forms a BigBadDuumvirate with Marmalade. [[spoiler:Once almost all has been said and done, however, Snake reveals that shortly after leaving the gang's hideout, he realized that he still had a conscience after all, and used the Bad Guys' breaking up as an alibi for making a false alliance with Marmalade and sabotaging the latter's scheme from within. It's a clever BatmanGambit on Snake's part, since the fact that Marmalade was so caught up in his own sadistic pride over walking over others for his own ends prevented him from even suspecting, until it was much too late, that Snake's offer to join him wasn't genuine]].

* In the film version of ''Film/AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter'', [[spoiler:Lincoln's friend Speed pretends to sell Lincoln out to the vampires as part of a BatmanGambit to lure [[BigBad Adam]] into a trap. Unfortunately, he pays with his life]].

* Kyra joining the Necromongers in ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', only to help Riddick when he faces the Lord Marshal in the final fight. Of course, when she joined them, she thought that Riddick was dead. It's only when he comes back does she decide to help him.

** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[spoiler: backed into a corner by Thanos and his forces, Loki offers Thanos his undying loyalty... and then tries to stab him. Thanos sees it coming.]]
** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler:Captain America is part of a team time-traveling back to the events of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' to recover Loki's scepter. He ends up in an elevator full of people who he knows are actually HYDRA agents thanks to the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', and there's a tense moment when they ask for the scepter back and prepare for a fight. Cap puts them at ease by whispering [[MythologyGag two words:]] [[ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers "Hail HYDRA."]]]]
* In ''Film/MissSloane'', when the title character, a lobbyist, leaves the lobbying firm she's been working for in order to work for a group trying to get a gun-control bill passed. [[spoiler:She assumes Jane, her closest associate at the lobbying firm, would be joining her, but Jane publicly sides with Sloane's old firm and stays on. In fact, we find out at the end Jane has been working with Sloane the entire time as part of her BatmanGambit to help get the gun-control bill passed]].

* During the climax of ''Film/TheNegotiator'', Roman is trying to convince BigBad [[spoiler: Frost]] to talk, but Sabian notices that it's not working, drags Roman out of hiding, and [[spoiler: shoots him, stating that in compensation, he wants half of the money that Frost stole. Frost agrees, destroys the evidence, and walks out of the house to find that his entire agreement with Sabian was broadcast to the police, implicating him quite effectively. Sabian only shot Roman non-fatally.]]

* The trope is used as a minor MindScrew to the audience and a major one to the protagonist in ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', as [[spoiler:Hauser]] tricks Quaid [[spoiler:who ''is'' Hauser, post memory wipe]] into thinking he has betrayed Cohagen when in fact it's all an elaborate gambit ''by'' Cohagen. Throw in [[spoiler:not one, but two moles]] and you've got one hell of a manipulative conspiracy.
* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', Darwin does this to Sebastian Shaw's group of evil mutants as a ploy to give his teammate Havok a clear shot at Shaw's group (Darwin's own mutant ability will protect him from Havok's attack, and their friend but genuine traitor Angel, who wouldn't be safe otherwise). [[spoiler:[[BlackDudeDiesFirst It doesn't turn out so good for Darwin]] when Shaw's group survives unscathed due to Shaw's mutant ability allowing him to absorb Havok's attack.]]

** The ''[[HonorBeforeReason beyond]]'' [[HonorBeforeReason honorable]] Jon Snow becomes a fake defector in order to spy on the wildling king, Mance Rayder, for the Night's Watch at the orders of his superior officer, Qhorin Halfhand; he is forced to kill [[spoiler: Qhorin Halfhand]] as Qhorin ordered him to do in order to gain the trust of the wildling leaders. And then to have sex with his new wildling girlfriend every night to maintain their trust. How ''else'' would he convince them he's forsworn those vows of chastity he honors so much? He ''does'' feel very bad about all this. During his role as fake defector -- though he comes to see ordinary wildlings as regular men, women and children and feels compassion for them -- he learns of the wildling king's plans to attack the Wall and must work to prevent this and warn the Night's Watch. He comes to fall in love with aforementioned wildling girl but must leave her as he has always been loyal to the Night's Watch and must fulfill his duty.
** The Westerling family counts as well. The family is of minor nobility and are sworn to the Lannisters. After their daughter Jeyne, likely the only family member who doesn't fit this trope, marries the King in the North, Robb Stark, leader of one of the armies opposed to the Lannisters in the War of Five Kings, the Westerlings pretend to declare loyalty to the Starks. However, Robb's direwolf Grey Wind, an EvilDetectingDog, indicates that something is wrong about the family. Later, Jeyne's mother reveals to Jaime Lannister that she has been in contact with his father, Tywin Lannister, the head of the Lannister family, and was aware of the planned betrayal of Robb Stark at the hands of one of his sworn families. She also gave her daughter drugs to prevent conception, thus ensuring the male line of the Stark family died with Robb (or so she thought).
*** [[spoiler: Wyman Manderly, ever loyal to the Starks]], pretends to defer to the [[spoiler: Freys and Boltons]] when it's really all a ruse to [[{{Pun}} dish up]] some revenge of his own.

* Successfully pulled by [[spoiler:Sir Horace Harkness]] in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, when their ship was taken by Havenite StateSec. A life of [[AntiHero smuggling and bootlegging]] certainly paid off -- he managed to deceive his watchdogs, hack the enemy ship's central computer, free his mates, and blow the entire ship to Kingdom Come after making a clean getaway. He was deservingly [[spoiler:knighted]] for this performance.
* [[spoiler:Professor Severus Snape]] of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Interestingly, he defected to both sides at different points, so we're kept guessing for most of the series about which side he's a ''fake'' defector to. (Fans debated it to hell and back.) It all ends with a very unusual twist: his deception is successful but [[spoiler: his mission fails. Voldemort believes Snape, but kills him anyway, out of expediency. That said, he was able to prevent a whole lot of worse abuse towards the students of Hogwarts using his position as Headmaster, and was able to give Harry his all-important memories about Voldemort's extra Horcrux, so in a way he succeeded.]]
* Subverted in ''Emperor: The Gods of War'' by Conn Iggulden, where [[spoiler:Brutus actually has done a face-heel turn and betrayed Caesar. However Caesar and his generals play it out as a fake defector, and even Brutus himself does so in order to get into Caesar's daughter's bed.]]

* Lara of the ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing]]'' series started off as a bad guy playing TheMole in the New Republic. She caused the near-total destruction of an X-wing squadron, then went back to the Imperials, got disgusted by her newest boss's insistence that WeHaveReserves, and engineered his death. Then, awaiting another chance, she went undercover among the New Republic again, joined an X-wing squadron, and started BecomingTheMask and finding that GoodFeelsGood, so she switched sides and started getting close with the only survivor of the X-wing squadron she'd destroyed. ''Then'' her true origin was revealed and she was forced to flee and rejoin the bad guys as a fake defector, contributing to a major New Republic victory. It ends [[spoiler: on a bittersweet note at first (she has to live the rest of her life under a different identity to avoid being condemned to death for her actions as an Imperial agent), but a later book shows that things went all the better for her, as she started both a family and a successful business with the aforementioned survivor.]]
* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's novel ''Literature/ShadowPuppets'', Suriyawong spends most of his time working his way up to being the BigBad's second-hand man [[spoiler:so that when the time comes he can give the good guys a chance to shoot the BigBad in the head]].

* In Creator/SandyMitchell's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} ''[[TabletopGame/DarkHeresy Scourge the Heretic]]'', when they are [[TheInfiltration infiltrating a smuggling operation]], Kyrlock claims to have deserted the Imperial Guard and need to escape. Later, [[spoiler:when their guide [[AttemptedRape attempts to rape]] a girl also waiting to be smuggled, and Elyra is unable to get him to back down, Kyrlock tells him that while Elyra doesn't want to share, he would be willing. This [[EvilCannotComprehendGood lets him get close enough]] to bring the man down. Though it is over in a couple of minutes, Elyra is nearly convinced that he means it; when he says [[PowerOfTrust he knew she would back him up]], she is embarrassed and can not admit how close it came.]]

* As of ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime The Gathering Storm]]'', [[spoiler:Verin]] is revealed to be one of these, having [[spoiler:joined the Black Ajah to save herself, then studied it and eventually brought it down from within. Considering how well she fooled her fellow Blacks, and the LoopholeAbuse she used to be able to divulge all (which also entailed a HeroicSacrifice),it's tempting to call her a [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]] despite still being one of the Heroes. She's certainly mistress of ThePlan.]]

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[ExpandedUniverse Double Helix]] novel "Double Or Nothing", Mackenzie Calhoun needs to infiltrate the Big Bad, so he punches out an admiral. (He was supposed to have a loud argument with him, but he decided that he needed to be punched...to make the charade more authentic, of course). [[spoiler:It is subverted, however, in that the Big Bad sees right through it and keeps it hidden until the big moment.]]
* The female lead of the ''Literature/JamesBond'' novel and film ''Literature/FromRussiaWithLove'' was told that her mission was to become one of these to leak false intelligence to the West. [[spoiler: Her mission is actually a set up to lure Bond into a situation where SMERSH/SPECTRE (Depending on the adaptation) can kill both of them in a manner that embarrasses the British government.]]
* In Literature/TheDresdenFiles novel ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', [[spoiler: Martin]] pretends to defect to the Red Court, serving as a DoubleAgent and setting up [[spoiler: their total destruction]]. The protagonist was incredibly surprised, naturally.

** ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndTheRingsOfSaturn'': Lucky Starr allows himself to be captured by Earth's enemies, the Sirians, and then gives away one of his fellow Councilmen of Science to the Sirians and testifies about his betrayal for Sirius at an interstellar conference. [[spoiler:Of course, it's all an elaborate ploy to get on the stand and present testimony that is devastating to Sirius.]] The act is especially hard on Lucky's sidekick and best friend Bigman, [[WeWouldHaveToldYouBut who believes Lucky is turning traitor in exchange for his, Bigman's, life]].

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' it seems like Peeta has teamed up with the careers to kill Katniss. In actuality he teamed up with them to lure them away from her and help keep her alive.

* In ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' you have [[spoiler:Blade,]] who "defects" after Croaker suspects him of having an affair with [[spoiler:Lady, Croaker's wife.]] In the months long con that followed, Croaker repeatedly sent the religious fanatics of his own army against [[spoiler:Blade's forces, thinning his pressed army of the malcontents while Blade turned nearly his entire enemy force to the Company side.]]
* Seen in the ''Warrior'' trilogy of ''[[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse BattleTech]]'' novels about the Fourth Succession War, with not a clue whatsoever to an uninitiated reader until {{the Reveal}} late in the final novel. Of course, the surprise will likely be lost on most modern readers already familiar with the universe's backstory who'll recognize the name [[spoiler:Justin Xiang Allard]] easily enough; it worked better when the books (some of the first ever written) were still new.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Sharpe}} Sharpe's Tiger]]'', Sharpe and Lawford infiltrate the garrison of Seringapatam by pretending to be deserters happy to fight for Tippoo Sultan. They are eventually found out, but not before Sharpe has earned the respect of his new commanding officer -- who is actually somewhat relieved to learn that Sharpe is a spy, because the kind of man he judges Sharpe to be would never actually desert.

* [[spoiler:Wolf]] of ''[[Series/TheTenthKingdom The 10th Kingdom]]'' is a particularly well-done version of this trope. It keeps you guessing, even right up to the very end, which side he will truly turn out to be on. It helps that, as a deconstruction of many fairy tale tropes, Happy Ever After was not guaranteed by any means, and the ending [[BittersweetEnding still remains rather dark]]…
* ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'': In Season 4, [[TokenEvilTeammate Deacon]] gets left behind when Team Splinter is forced to evacuate their base and gets captured by the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. He then claims to want revenge on his former friends for abandoning him, and offers to help hunt them down. Except it turns out he's really still loyal to them, and is working to undermine [[BigBad the Witness's]] plans from within.

** Done by [[spoiler: both Tony Almeda and Jack]] in the season 7. Also [[spoiler: Greg Seaton]] fakes a bad-to-good defection.

** [[spoiler: Boomer]] does that too. [[spoiler: Ellen]] thinks that [[spoiler: Boomer]] helped them escape. [[spoiler: Boomer]] only pretended so to get access to ''Galactica'' and steal [[spoiler: Hera]].

** Angel used a much shorter version of this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E3SchoolHard School Hard]]". During Spike's attack on Sunnydale High, he strolled right up with Xander in a headlock, claiming to have been playing Buffy. Spike didn't buy it, having known Angelus ''much'' better than [[spoiler:Faith]] did.
* ''Series/LeBureauDesLegendes'': [[spoiler:Malotru and Pacemaker]] are fake defectors to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).

** [[HeroicBastard Jon Snow]] joins the wildlings in ''Valar Morghulis'' and remains with them throughout Season 3, convincing them that he's a ''bona fide'' defector. Killing [[spoiler:Qhorin Halfhand]] (under Qhorin Halfhand's orders) in a one-on-one combat, along with his admission that he ''was'' unhappy with Mormont's decision to ally with Craster, went some ways toward convincing the wildlings. That being said, subtlety is ''definitely'' not Jon's strong suit, since both Orell and Ygritte immediately pick up on the fact that he's working as a Fake Defector.

** In "The Dragon and the Wolf", while Euron doesn't pretend to go over to the heroes side, when everyone is shown a wight and he learns they can't swim, Euron claims he's abandoning Cersei, pulling back his fleet and planning on waiting out the White Walker attack on the Iron Islands. Cersei later reveals the entire thing was a ruse, and that he's really sailing to Essos to recruit the Golden Company to Cersei's side while Daenerys and Jon wage war against the White Walkers. It's more like an evil asshole pretending to be a neutral asshole.

** It turns out to be somewhat pointless, [[spoiler: as it turned out that the KAOS unit was long defunct, and being run by [[FlockOfWolves infiltrators]] from various government agencies.]]
* On ''Series/{{Haven}},'' Duke does this on more than one ocassion with more than one BigBad. He's usually singled out for AppleOfDiscord plots because of his seemingly ambiugous morality as a VenturousSmuggler when compared with his Haven PD TrueCompanions Audrey and Nathan. He's no one's fool, however, and an excellent liar, and uses his position to his advantage to gain the upper hand or obtain information.

* Hiro from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' [[spoiler: pretends to stab Ando with a katana in order to join the other side.]]

* On ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'', Kamen Rider Lazer/Kiriya Kujo is revived by the series' true BigBad [[spoiler:Masamune Dan]] and is originally shown to be sided with [[spoiler:Masamune's]] side instead of Emu/Ex-Aid's side. Turns out, [[spoiler:all of this is a ploy by him to swipe back the Proto Gashats that Masamune stole earlier in the story, taking full advantage of his tendency to lie to fool Masamune that he has willingly joined his side following his revival.]]

** Benjamin Linus pulls this in "What They Died For", even going as far as to [[spoiler: kill Charles Widmore (though that part probably wasn't an act)]] to convince the Man in Black where his loyalties lie. Oddly enough, he doesn't actually accomplish much, other than to [[spoiler: allow Miles and Richard to escape the Man in Black's wrath and eventually get off the island]].
* Jane attempts this in the fourth season finale of ''Series/TheMentalist'', hoping to convince Red John that he'd truly given up and was willing to join him. He even goes so far as to [[spoiler: pretend to kill Lisbon and bring her head to Red John as a gift]]. Needless to say, things didn't go as planned.

* ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'': In the season three finale, [[spoiler: Colby Granger is exposed as a traitor]]. The Season Four premiere reveals [[spoiler: it was an act to trap the real traitor]].

** In ''Series/KousokuSentaiTurboranger'' Pink Turbo winds up joining the bad guys in attempt to recover an antidote for the poisoned Blue Turbo by fighting alongside the monster of the week and "accidentally" getting poisoned by it as well forcing it to give her the antidote. Oddly enough this didn't seem to be planned in advance at all, she just happened to take a hit to her head during a battle and decided to [[FakingAmnesia fake memory loss]] to join the bad guys. The other guys had no idea what she was doing until the Reveal when Blue was shown to be healed. She even was perfectly willing to shoot a machine gun at them as part of her plan.
** ''Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'' had an episodes by [[Creator/ToshikiInoue the same writer]] where thanks to a monster with ResetButton powers, TheBadGuyWins and TheHeroDies. Five Pink then decides ResistanceIsFutile and assists in the slaughter of [[CainAndAbel her other siblings]]. Then, when the monster decides he [[TheStarscream shouldn’t use his powers only when ordered to]], Pink then takes advantage of this to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
** ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' repeated this plot only this time had it fail. Ohyellow joins the bad guys in attempt to recover an antidote however unlike Pink Turbo faking amnesia Ohyellow faked cowardice and surrendered instead. Ohyellow also lets herself get hit by the poison darts and tries to get the antidote however she wore a bulletproof vest to protect herself unlike Pink Turbo who allowed herself to be poisoned. Since Ohyellow doesn't take as many risks the bad guys aren't fooled and give her a fake antidote instead. They then need to use a backup plan instead.

** ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'': Episode 40 has Christmas Org, supposedly an Org that's grown tired of the fighting and is relentlessly tormented by the others for his turn to good; not unlike episode 34's Charcoal Grill Org, he even befriends [=GaoRed=] and borrows his G-Phone as an act of trust... But that's all an act and the Org turns out to actually be calle Chrismisery Org and is in cahoots with Highness Duke Rasetsu to boot; he even goes as far as mocking Red for trusting him.
** Happens again in ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger''; Maharo (who was [[TheDragon a dragon]] for the villians before her HeelFaceTurn) makes a deal with Abarekiller and rejoins the villians with all of her former power restored. The heroes quickly learn that this is all part of her plan to A) free Asuka from the dark armor and B) get close to the Big Bad and wait for a chance to strike. The first half of her plan goes smoothly, but not the second half.
** ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' has Luka attempt this to free herself, Joe, Don and Ahim in episode 16... and [[spoiler:it fails right off the bat, because Basco, the one who had kidnapped them, didn't buy it for a second.]]

** In the episode "Shades of Grey", Colonel O'Neill gets suspended from duty for stealing technology from aliens. This allows him to infiltrate a group of bad guys, but in the process he alienates his team, who are quite shocked at his behaviour (not being in on the plan). Of course, they're all friends again by the next episode. Interesting thing is that in that episode Daniel appears to have a friendly talk to Jack at the end, and reveals he came because he lost the draw.

** Teal'c is also brainwashed by Apophis into thinking that he was this trope, when he was "really" still loyal to Apophis.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E4Gambit Gambit]]", Picard (rather inadvertently) [[TheInfiltration goes undercover]] with a group of SpacePirates; when Riker shows up, Picard sets him up as the fake defector to keep him alive. Meanwhile they had to act like [[WeDoNotKnowEachOther they didn't know each other]] and would happily kill one another.
** In the appropriately titled "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E10TheDefector The Defector]]", a Romulan officer falsely claims to be a middle-ranking clerk of negligible importance who had come across some important information about a secret base which the Romulans planned to launch an attack on the Federation from. [[spoiler:His defection was sincere, but he was lying about his identity. He wanted to warn the Federation about the attack so a war could be prevented, but he did not want to further betray his homeworld. He finally admits that he is an Admiral and agrees to hand over any required information to the Federation. Tragically, it turns out that he is the UnwittingPawn, [[FeedTheMole fed false information]] by [[MagnificentBastard Commander Tomalak]] to lure the [[CoolShip Enterprise]] into crossing into the Neutral Zone first so they could ambush them and justify an invasion of the Federation. Fortunately, Captain Picard arranged ahead of time for the [[TheCavalry Klingons]] to sneak in with them in case they needed rescuing. Both sides retreat without a war starting.]]

** A subtle variation, over multiple episodes of Season 2. [[spoiler: Tom Paris starts showing up late, picking a fight with his superior, starts the crew gambling. He lines up a new job and is leaving the ship forever.]] Instead of getting approached by the other side they decide to kidnap him, exactly according to plan.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E10Counterpoint Counterpoint]]" [[spoiler: an officer for an anti-telepath society seeks sanctuary on ''Voyager'', claiming to have never really agreed with the policy and to have worked to stop his subordinates finding out how ''Voyager'''s crew were smuggling refugees. It turns out to be an elaborate sting to find the wormhole the refugees are escaping to and destroying it. Janeway [[OutGambitted out-gambits]] him]].

* Done in ''Series/TheUnit'', which takes it pretty far... [[spoiler: Sam [=McBride=], to find BigBad Leon Drake, "attempts" to rape Bridget Sullivan (who isn't in on this), engages in a shootout and kidnaps Molly Blaine. The result of this is Molly separating from Jonas and Jonas telling Colonel Ryan that he's no longer fit for command, to which Ryan eventually agrees, taking a promotion]].
* Steve Jinks in ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is fired after pulling a gun on Mrs. Frederic when she insisted on torturing a detainee. He's then recruited by TheDragon to work for the BigBad. The whole thing was planned by Mrs. Frederic and Jinks off screen, and they were the only ones in on it until Jinks revealed the plan to Claudia late in the game. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Sykes has his [[TheDragon Dragon]] kill Jinks after his usefulness runs out. Fortunately, Claudia manages to revive him with Johann Maelzel's Metronome, and Jinks reconnecting with his estranged mother in a later episode brings him back fully]].

* Done in the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' universe by [[spoiler:Justin Allard, whose fall from grace was manufactured to give him credibility with the Capellan Confederation.]]

* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': While Jon's period of pretending to join the wildlings happened off-stage, the consequences of having done so are present in "Sword in the Darkness": the Night's Watch is longer certain of Jon's loyalty, while the wildlings coming to attack the Wall know Jon's face and are distrusful of him because he returned to the Night's Watch.

* Throughout her story in ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'', [[spoiler:Milla is offered a chance to visit her parents again by Serpentine, on the grounds that she swear unwavering loyalty to him and Brevon. While she refuses due to his claims being too absurd to be true from her reckoning, when Bakunawa escapes into orbit above Avalice beyond any planetbound vessel's ability to pursue, she agrees to Serpentine's conditions, up to and including the additional clause of killing her friends "[[BadBadActing because we're evil and stuff]]". While newcomers to the series might be forgiven for thinking she might actually take it up, especially given he's holding her trauma over her head like the sword of Damocles, those who know her in-universe and out understand that this is a deal she has no intention of fulfilling.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroTheEternalNight'': On two occasions, Cynder pretends to have returned to evil and to attack Spyro. The first time is when she is chosen to fight Spyro in the Skavengers' arena, and the second when she is ordered by Gaul to kill Spyro.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': In every single game, [[spoiler:Revolver Ocelot is a fake defector]] to whomever the current game's BigBad is. He always, ''[[DoubleAgent always]]'' double-crosses his apparent boss at the end. Even more than that, he's not even typically working for the people he "defected" from, but is solely loyal to [[spoiler:the Pro-Big Boss faction]]. In fact, he gave [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder such behavior]] its [[TropeNamer name]]. Other than the chronic backstabbing moments, Ocelot's backstory is that he originally worked for the NSA until he and a colleague of his defected to the Soviet Union. However, it was suggested to be a fake defection due to still working for the CIA. [[spoiler: [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like mother, like son]].]]
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' in a deconstruction of the trope, [[spoiler:The Boss]] "defects" to the side of BigBad Volgin, but after Volgin decides to nuke one of his research facilities with the American-made nuke she provided at the same time Russian radar detects the American plane which dropped off Naked Snake for an apparently-unrelated mission, the U.S. top brass shifts the blame for the incident onto [[spoiler:The Boss]] to cover their own asses ([[spoiler:which [[HeroicSacrifice she willingly went along with to protect her country's interests]]]]), and her defection suddenly becomes a one-way street, making it necessary for Snake to kill her in order to prevent WorldWarThree from erupting. Tragically, Snake only learns her defection was fake after he's killed her. It gets even worse in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker]]'', when it is revealed near the end that [[spoiler: Not only was the launching of the nuke planned, but the true objective of both the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater was to kill off The Boss from the start by a single deviously cunning strategist. Coldman even admits (with a sickening amount of glee and satisfaction) that he was the one who set The Boss up.]]
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'': Subverted with the FOX Unit. The CIA intended to have the FOX Unit fake defection to the Soviet Union so they could supply the [=ICBMG=] to the Soviets and thus have the CIA maintain all the power it gained during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. However, this plot was undone by the Pentagon (of whom [[spoiler:Cunningham]] was a plant to), where FOX was to launch the ICBMG at Soviet Russia in order to tarnish the CIA's reputation. It's even further subverted when Gene intended to nuke America with the [=ICBMG=]. See GambitPileup below.
* Subverted with Saul in ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert''. Saul is trying to buy up the protagonist's diner when he is first introduced, and we later find out (after he is fired) that he was instructed to buy out specific businesses. Then, after a temporary stint as a cook at the diner, he reappears alongside Cecilia. [[spoiler:However, when the protagonist is put on trial, Saul represents him pro bono, and conspires with Mortelli to sabotage the prosecution.]]
* [[spoiler:Constable Neyla]] in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' pretends to be defecting from [[spoiler:Interpol]] before [[spoiler:her]] true intentions are revealed.
* One story option, which will happen most of the time in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' unless you [[spoiler: choose Kratos at the Flanoir doctor scene]], features [[spoiler:Zelos doing this, in part to get one of the required elements to create the Eternal Sword. In the other story path, he really does join the villains and you have to kill him.]]
** If you piece all the story together, Kratos plays with this trope as well. [[spoiler:Ultimately, Kratos doesn't believe in Mithos' vision of the world, but his inherent fatalism -- and the knowledge of what happened last time he tried -- keeps him from truly abandoning the Cruxis leader. This leads to Kratos playing the two of you up against each other and helping in his own fashion, hoping that ultimately Lloyd will win so Kratos will be able to die. He'll never actively oppose Mithos unless you choose him in the aforementioned scene, however.]]
* Subverted in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' game by [[spoiler:Servant Archer]], defecting to one side, betraying them, then turning around and attacking his original side, revealing himself to have been [[ThePlan acting in his own personal interests all along]].
* Jowy Atreides from ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' is an archetypical example of this trope (and a classic [[TheStarscream Starscream]]. Originally the main character's best friend and ally in the oncoming war against the [[PsychoforHire demonic, malevolent]] and [[AxCrazy psychopathic]] [[TheCaligula Prince]] Luca Blight (not the Luca above), he betrays said best friend and joins up with Luca, believing that the only way to stop him is from the inside. His plans are successful and in the end of the game, you can choose whether to fight him to the death of not.
** [[spoiler: Sialeeds]] does this when she betrays the heroes in ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' for the same reasoning as Jowy's: kill the corrupt people of the Senate from the inside so that no one will oppose the [[TheHero Prince]] and Lym.
* Axel in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' pretended to help [[TheStarscream Marluxia]] for most of the game (even killing [[spoiler:Vexen]] in the process), then turns around and ruins his plans.
* The "staged breakdown" version of this is the premise of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'', except that the death of Sam's daughter was very real; that MythArc was continued in ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction''... which then revealed that [[spoiler:Sam's boss hid his daughter away and faked her death]].
* [[spoiler:Megan Kher]] in the Playdom game ''VideoGame/GardensOfTime''. [[spoiler:With help from [[TeamDad Alistair]] and [[FieryRedhead Eleanor]], she pulls this on none other than ''Julius Caesar''. Or better said, his younger and {{face heel turn}}ed self. [[ItmakesSenseInContext It's a long story]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the [[spoiler:cloned Rachni queen, assuming you killed the real queen in ''1'']] will pull this on you just to get access to your big emergency superweapon project, then sabotage the project on behalf of the Reapers. [[spoiler:The real queen, should she still be alive, is genuinely on your side though, and her brood of worker drones will provide you with more War Assets than some ''fleets''.]]

** Nobunaga and Hideyoshi's routes have [[spoiler:Mitsuhide pretend to betray the Oda forces to get information on their enemies and/or lure them into a trap. This is quite easy for Mitsuhide to pull off, as he's an ''incredibly'' shady-looking and acting guy who was already attracting speculation about whether he might be the one who attempted to assassinate Nobunaga at Honno-ji (which ''was'' true in the original historical timeline, but not in the alternate one the main character is in)]].
** Mitsunari's route has [[spoiler:Mitsunari himself act as the fake defector in his Dramatic ending. He pretends to be the one responsible for burning innocent villages so that Kennyo's Ikko Ikki forces will be distracted long enough by trying to hunt him down for the rest of the Oda forces to gather solid evidence that it was actually Kennyo himself who burned these villages and then blamed them on the Oda]].

** In Chapter Two of the Imperial Agent storyline, [[PlayerCharacter Cipher Nine]] is ordered to become a DeepCoverAgent in the Republic's Strategic Information Service, with the cover story of having become disillusioned with the Sith Empire due to [[spoiler:Darth Jadus's attempted MilitaryCoup]] in Chapter One. [[spoiler:There's an optional path to defect for real in Chapter Three if certain options are taken at the climax of C2.]]

** [[spoiler: Theron Shan]] betrays the Alliance and goes over to work with the Commander's enemies, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking getting a bad haircut]] to boot. Players were initially kept in the dark about his true motives, although many suspected this trope was in play. The arc's conclusion proved them correct. Notably, you don't have to take him back after the truth is revealed. [[spoiler: If you're especially heartless, you can even leave him to die of a critical injury.]]
* ''Videogame/YakuzaLikeADragon''; [[spoiler: Yosuke Tendo joins the heroes after the disbanding of the Omi Alliance, fighting alongside them to protect Watase and Daigo. This turns out to be a lie to gain the trust of Matsumi Arakawa (who helped Watase and Daigo engineer the disbanding), whom Tendo murders in order to get in the good graces of [[BigBad Ryo Aoki]] and take control of the Omi remnant that refused Watase's orders to disband.]]

* [[spoiler:Darth Maul]] attempts to do this in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', pretending to betray [[spoiler: Palpatine for Nute Gunray.]] Unfortunately, [[spoiler: Gunray]] sees right through it.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Beausoleil's standard operating procedure is to pretend to support any upstarts trying to usurp Voltaire as the Master of Paris so he can spy on them. He's done this so many times that [[spoiler:when he finally defects for real he feels the need to tell Voltaire that this time it's genuine right before killing him.]]
* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfMaxx'': [[spoiler:Maxx defects to the Naiad side and joined forces with Xylan, but it's revealed to be a ploy so he can stab Xylan in the back and get the Naiad's sword.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'': Lee needs an in on the Down With Lee Club, so he and Cam stage a fight so Cam can gain entrance. [[spoiler:It doesn't end up working, as [=RadCircles=] tips off the other club members about the ruse.]]

** In the two-parter "The Traitor", Cobra learns that the Joes have developed an armor treatment that makes their vehicles impervious to their weapons, the Twins approach Dusty and [[spoiler: offer to pay his mother's medical bills in exchange for the formula. At first, Dusty only gives them information on the Joes' strategy to stop their next attack, but as the expenses pile up, he eventually steals the formula and turns it over to them,]] which is followed by Duke being knocked into a coma when [[spoiler: a "trap" he and Flint set for Dusty backfires and he's trapped on an oil rig that explodes.]] Dusty is convicted at court martial and given a life sentence, but Cobra attacks as he's on his way to prison and break him out. Fully indoctrinated with the bad guys, he leads two Cobra raids on chemical plants to acquire materials for their mind control gas and even helps capture an entire squadron of Joes. When Cobra Commander gives Dusty the honor of testing the mind control gas on the captured Joes, Dusty [[spoiler: instead releases the gas into the main chamber, where it corrodes the armor-treated Cobra vehicles and {{Mooks}}, then frees the Joes and escapes.]] It turns out that [[spoiler: the Joes knew the armor treatment was unstable and ''wanted'' Cobra to get it, so Duke and Dusty came up with the plan to get the formula into their hands... but nobody else knew that Dusty's defection was all an act. (Also, the chemical combination that created the mind control gas could also be turned into a compound that neutralized the armor treatment, resulting in the hilarious scenes of both tans and uniforms completely disintegrating.)]]
** The Creator/DiCEntertainment continuation did this in the episode "Shadow of a Doubt", where Storm Shadow (who was [[HeelFaceReturn established to have defected from Cobra between the events of the Sunbow series and the DiC series]]) appeared to be returning to Cobra, but was actually faking it to help the Joes take down Cobra's secret base.
* A later episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' refers to this as a "Scenario 17", which Kim's Cousin Larry executed against Professor Dementor with remarkable skill and cunning, only because he believed it was a LARP session for his birthday.
* The episode "Operation Beifong" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' reveals that [[spoiler: Zhu Li only pretended to betray Varrick so she could get close to Kuvira and sabotage the superweapon the Earth Empire is trying to build.]]

*** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 The Cutie Map]]", despite all of [[TheUnsmile the fake smiles]] that the Equal Ponies put on, Fluttershy finds them genuinely charming. It's this kindness that allows her and the rest of the Mane Six to convince cult leader Starlight Glimmer that Fluttershy is interested in joining them, when all Fluttershy really wants to do is find their cutie marks. [[spoiler:This later gets exploited again by the Mane Six to expose Starlight Glimmer as a {{Hypocrite}} who doesn't follow her own philosophy.]]
*** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E25SchoolRazePart1 School Raze]]", [[spoiler:Sandbar looks like he's thrown the non-pony students under the bus when he tells Neighsay he doesn't want anything to do with them, and he didn't tell his friends either. Cut to the next scene and he's run off to get the Crusaders for help and they rescue the others.]]

* In the third episode of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin''[='s=] pilot series, "Plunder & Lightning", [[HeartwarmingOrphan Kit Cloudkicker]] [[spoiler: pretends to betray Baloo, Molly and Rebecca in the Iron Vulture to his former mentor Don Karnage, to allow them to escape. The fake deception is so convincing and surprising that Baloo believes himself betrayed, and angrily leaves Higher For Hire with the Sea Duck to Louie's to party his cares away, until he hears Kit desperately radio for help in the fourth episode.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', of all shows, pulled this off with Plucky Duck. With Acme Looniversity due to play its hated rival, Perfecto Prep, in the championship game, Plucky seems to betray his Looniversity friends and begin giving Perfecto Prep inside knowledge of the Looniversity's game plan, up to and including a copy of their playbook. On game day, Plucky gives Perfecto Prep advance knowledge of the plays the Looniversity plans to use...and the Prep students suffer a humiliating defeat, with the final play not only being completely different from Plucky's signal, but with Plucky himself scoring the game-winning touchdown. In the end, it's revealed that Plucky was made into [[ThePlan a fake defector]] [[DefeatingTheCheatingOpponent to sabotage Perfecto Prep's attempts to cheat.]]
* Rogue does this is ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'', but the X-Men actually don't believe her at first and lock her up when she comes to warn them about the Brotherhoods plan, until they start doing exactly what she said they would do. This is because it seemed she had done this in an earlier episode only to lure the X-Men into a trap. It's ambiguous as to whether she was pulling a fake defection all along, or legitimately joined the Brotherhood, only to later change her mind and claim she was so the X-Men would take her back.

** [[spoiler:The truth of Kaldur's supposed FaceHeelTurn]].

** One of the most famous examples happened before the Battle of Chibi, where the general Huang Gai sent letters to Cao Cao offering to defect. As Cao Cao had been receiving many such letters from various officials over the past few weeks, he had no reason to be particularly suspicious of Huang Gai. However, Huang Gai's ships pulled barges full of flammable material behind them and rammed Cao Cao's fleet, which combined with unseasonal winds sent fire raging through Cao Cao's fleet. Huang Gai himself nearly died during the course of the action, but was rescued by his old friend Han Dang.

* In 1942, a German battalion housed in a Russian village needed to get into the rear of a Soviet unit. An 83 year old guy named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matvey_Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmin]] volunteered to lead them there for a good sum and a hunting gun. Before they left, Matvey sent his grandson ahead to warn the Soviets. The German commander shot him once the ambush became obvious, but the 50 dead and 20 captured men were enough to make Matvey the [[CoolOldGuy oldest ever Hero of the Soviet Union]].

'''As a betrayal trope many examples will contain spoilers.'''

* In ''Film/TheGodfather'', Don Corleone send Luca Brasi to infiltrate the Tattaglia family to garner information on Sollozzo, but Sollozzo is wise to the plot and Luca ends up sleeping with the fishes.

* In ''Film/IRobot'', Sonny pretends to be swayed by [[BigBad VIKI]]'s "undeniable" [[WellIntentionedExtremist logic]], and suddenly holds Dr. Calvin hostage. It's all a ploy to get them safely out of the room with VIKI so they can head towards her positronic brain and shut it down, but it's only when Sonny winks at Spooner (a gesture Spooner had earlier described to him as a sign of trust) that he and the audience realize what's going on. Poor Dr. Calvin is still out of the loop.

* In the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' universe done by [[spoiler:Justin Allard whose fall from grace was manufactured to give him credibility with Capellan Confederation]]

* In ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'', an entire Guild, the Mnemoi, pretended to become corrupt to hide that they had been entrusted with saving the memories of Charon, ruler of Stygia, until he could come back. Unfortunately, it worked a little ''too'' well; the Mnemoi were hunted down fanatically, and by the time Charon did return, so many of his memories were missing because those who held them had been destroyed.

* [[spoiler:Chiyuri]] from ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'' ended up in this for [[spoiler:joining Dusk Taker]], but it turns out [[spoiler:she didn't. She only sticks on his side to become strong enough and see that her ability known as 'Citron Call' can reverse time to give back Haru's wings that Nomi has stolen from him.]]

* In the ''Manga/{{The Legend Of Zelda Four Swords|2004}} Plus'' manga, [[spoiler:the Violet Link]] pulled this off in order to learn of the enemy's plans, even [[spoiler:knocking out the Green Link]] in order to prove his "loyalty".

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', of all shows, pulled this off with Plucky Duck. With Acme Looniversity due to play its hated rival, Perfecto Prep, in the championship game, Plucky seems to betray his Looniversity friends and begin giving Perfecto Prep inside knowledge of the Looniversity's game plan, up to and including a copy of their playbook. On game day, Plucky gives Perfecto Prep advance knowledge of the plays the Looniversity plans to use...and the Prep students suffer a humiliating defeat, with the final play not only being completely different from Plucky's signal, but with Plucky himself scoring the game-winning touchdown. In the end, it's revealed that Plucky was made into a fake defector [[ThePlan to sabotage Perfecto Prep's attempts to cheat.]]

* Chip Whistler in ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' becomes this in "Reckoning Ball". After discovering the Greens' kindness and heeding advice from Bill to "put in the work" before he can "reap the rewards", he pretends to apologize for his misdeeds and make amends with them, which is enough to woo Cricket into believing he really means it, and is the first to sign his forgiveness contract as proof before the rest sign as a family, but Gramma Alice remains suspicious. Now the CEO of Wholesome Foods and with his dad out of the picture, this gambit eventually results in the shutdown of Big Coffee and an ultimate battle to protect the Greens' legacy before it is destroyed forever by Chip's megastore expansion. Cricket soon realizes what he did and ultimately regrets his actions.

* Jack Bauer in ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' series 3, breaking out Ramon Salazar from prison was [[GambitRoulette an elaborate sting operation]]. In order to convince the Salazars that he had gone to the bad side, he had to point an (unloaded) pistol at Chase's head and [[ShootYourMate pull the trigger]]. He is assisted by Gael Ortega, who goes so deep undercover as a mole that CTU arrests and interrogates him before realizing their mistake.
** This is in addition to the cocaine habit he starts in the same season to convince Salazar of his defection. [[MemeticBadass Proving once again that Jack Bauer is a badass.]]
*** Done again by [[spoiler: both Tony Almeda and Jack]] in the season 7. Also [[spoiler: Greg Seaton]] fakes a bad-to-good defection.

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys'', it seems that all the titular characters have undergone a HeelFaceTurn except for Mr. Snake, who forms a BigBadDuumvirate with Marmalade. [[spoiler:But surprise! Mr. Snake was just pretending to still be evil, and he tricks Marmalade into defeat.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', with Rattrap pretends to join the Predacons, fooling both the Preds and all of the other Maximals besides Optimus.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** There was one of these in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', with Rattrap pretending to join the Predacons. Ironically, in the first season of the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', he actually goes over temporarily. [[spoiler: Well, sorta... Megatron was insanely vulnerable, and he made an agreement to make sure the heroes DON'T kill Megatron. Ironically, Megatron keeps his word, outfitting the weaponless Rattrap with MASSIVE weapons. It appeared he even would have let Rattrap keep them when the battle continued, except Rattrap refused the weapons. (Turns out Rattrap's a HACKER now.)]]
** Autobot Punch of ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1''. He changes his robot mode's appearance to infiltrate the Decepticons as "Counterpunch".

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', [[spoiler:the truth of Kaldur's supposed FaceHeelTurn]].

* Also common in Kamakura-era retellings of the ''Literature/TaleOfGenji''. Many scenes in Genji make it clear that Genji was having an affair with the Emperor's chief wife, and even fathered her child. To avoid the unpatriotic implications, the retellings would have them go through the same conversations... but later reveal they were faking the whole thing to fool their enemies! And then NINJAS ATTACK!