History Main / MotivationalLie

->--''TheMatrix''

* Done in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' during the Dominion War arc, when [[TheCaptain Sisko]] and [[MagnificentBastard Garak]] form a plan to trick the Romulans, (who are neutral in the war) into thinking that the [=Dominion/Cardassian=] alliance is about to betray and attack them instead of settling for the "I'll kill you last" version of YouWillBeSpared.

* Present in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' Season 1 episode "Damien", in which {{Jesus}} is losing to a boxing match against {{Satan}}. Stan encourages Jesus with an inspirational quote, claiming that it was something Jesus said. After Jesus gets back into the fight, Stan reveals the quote is actually from StarTrek.
* In the "My Three Suns" episode of ''{{Futurama}}'', Fry accidentally drinks a planetary Emperor with a liquid body, which results in a YouKillItYouBoughtIt situation. That is, until it gets revealed that the Emperor is still alive in Fry's body and the Emperor's subjects start trying to get the Emperor out. Violently. As an alternative to letting the watery beings kill Fry, the gang tells Fry that Leela is dead to get him to cry the Emperor out instead.

* During Ranma and Ryoga's first battle in RanmaOneHalf, Ranma gains the upper hand until Nabiki gives him "steroids". They're later revealed to be mere vitamins, but that doesn't stop Ryoga from proceeding to [[CharlesAtlasSuperPower RIP A TELEPHONE POLE OUT OF THE GROUND AND CHASE RANMA DOWN WITH IT.]]
** {{Subverted}} in a couple of {{Fan Fic}}s going through that [[TheStationsOfTheCanon canon station]], where Nabiki gives Ryoga real steroids, [[JustifiedTrope either because Ranma pissed her off somehow]] or [[ShockingSwerve just for the sake of the]] {{Subversion}}.
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* In TheAvengers, after [[spoiler: Coulson dies at Loki's hands, Fury tosses a small pile of bloodstained vintage Captain America trading cards ([[RunningGag Mint Condition!]]) at Cap, as part of his attempt to use Coulson's death to galvanize the Avengers. The cards were not on Coulson's person at the time, but in his locker. There are also [=WMG=] theories abound that Coulson's death itself was a motivational lie and that everyone's favorite UnfazedEveryman is still alive.]]

* On the American edition of ''KitchenNightmares'', Gordon Ramsay calls Moe, one of the brother co-owners of the "Oceana" restaurant, "a busy idiot", being involved in all the wrong areas. Moe was about to pick a fight with Ramsay until Rami, his more level-headed co-owner brother, took him aside and said that "busy idiot" is actually a compliment in British English.

* On the American edition of ''KitchenNightmares'', Gordon Ramsay calls Moe, one of the brother co-owners of the "Oceana" restaurant "a busy idiot", being involved in all the wrong areas. Moe was about to pick a fight with Ramsay until Rami, his more level-headed co-owner brother, took him aside and said that "busy idiot" is actually a compliment in British English.

* In the third ''DieHard'', John [=McClane=] only gets [[MalcolmXerox Zeus Carver]] to help him investigate a spate of bombings by telling him that one bomb was discovered in a black neighborhood. Towards the end of the movie he admits that it wasn't anyplace close to where he'd claimed it was found.

* In the fifth ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' book, Scott goes to fight [[SingleMindedTwins the twins]] and rescue [[TheSmartGuy his friend Kim]] who is being held hostage, but struggles because he's demoralized from the fight he and his girlfriend Ramona had earlier. At that point Kim's phone beeps because the battery is dying, but Kim tells Scott that it was Ramona calling, and that Ramona is cheering him on and looking forward to see him to patch things up. Scott immediately kicks the crap out of the twins.

* During Ranma and Ryoga's first battle in RanmaOneHalf, Ranma gains the upper hand until Nabiki gives him "steroids". They're later revealed to be mere vitamins, but that doesn't stop Ryoga from proceeding to [[BeyondTheImpossible RIP A TELEPHONE POLE OUT OF THE GROUND AND CHASE RANMA DOWN WITH IT.]]

* During Ranma and Ryoga's first battle in RanmaOneHalf, Ranma gains the upper hand until Nabiki gives him "steroids". They're later revealed to be mere vitamins, but that doesn't stop Ryoga from proceeding to [[BeyondTheImpossible RIP A TELEPHONE POLE OUT OF THE GROUND AND CHASE RANMA DOWN WITH IT.]]]

* Done in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' during the Dominion War arc, when [[TheCaptain Sisko]] and [[MagnificentBastard Garak]] form a plan to trick the Romulans, (who are neutral in the war) into thinking that the [=Dominion/Cardassian=] alliance is about to betray and attack them.

Then someone GenreSavvy like the CynicalMentor or TheLancer comes along, and tells the hero a lie that gets them fired up with a fresh batch of HeroicResolve. Maybe he tells the hero that the BigBad killed the hero's parents, despite the fact the bad guy wasn't even in the country that night. (Or pushes a BerserkButton, for example telling TheNapoleon that his opponent called him a shrimp.) Maybe you say that the FemmeFatale is waiting naked on the other side of the obstacle if the hero can just get through it, or that the world's greatest chef will make the hero's TrademarkFavoriteFood if he figures out the puzzle.

A MotivationalLie can also be a deadly weapon in the hands of a cunning villain, who can use it to either manipulate the heroes or turn others against them, such as in a LetsYouAndHimFight scenario.

* During one scene in ''AKnightsTale'', Roland starts tells William (who is a peasant pretending to be a knight) that his jousting opponent is cruel to his peasants. After William angrily charges off to thrash the opponent, Roland remarks that it's ''probably'' true.

** In the parody of the Lord Slug movie, Goku is knocked out and awakens to find the planet frozen. Because he's [[IdiotHero Goku]], he assumes that because it's snowing it's Christmas, and that the [[VillainOfTheWeek Willains of the movie]] are looking to wreck Christmas like a different group of bad guys Goku had fought before. When Goku is losing the fight to Lord Slug, King Kai reminds Goku that he's fighting to keep Christmas from being wiped out, which sends Goku straight into UnstoppableRage.

* In a memorable McDonalds commercial from the 90s, a boxer is being badly beaten until his father/coach reminds him of how his a childhood birthday party at McDonalds was ruined when someone stole his fries. Dad points to the boxer's opponent and says "It was him". Cue a GoryDiscretionShot as the boxer beats the crap out of his opponent. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2DfiDtBIWs Link for the curious]].

Compare and contrast with tropes such as MagicFeather, BlatantLies, UnreliableExpositor, FromACertainPointOfView.

* In ''FiftyTwo'', {{Lobo}}'s space dolphin interpret "translates" [[EldritchAbomination Lady Styx]]'s three words-sentence [[TranslationYes into an eloquent derogatory speech]] designed to insult the Main Man in every way possible. It works and Lobo rips Styx to pieces.

'''Morpherus:''' She told you exactly what you needed to hear. That's all.

A MotivationalLie can also be a deadly weapon in the hands of a cunning villain, who can use it to either manipulate the heroes, turn others against them, or [[HeroWithBadPublicity damn them in the court of public opinion]].