History Main / RedHerringMole

** There were two others. Miss Martian, who seems like a sweet girl, except she's clearly hiding something, and Super Boy who's [[CloningBlues dubious background]] make it likely that he was a ManchurianAgent. In the end [[spoiler: all three of them came clean, and TheMole turned out to be Roy, who really ''was'' a ManchurianAgent.]]

* In the middle of AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', one of the characters mysteriously disappears. He/she ''could'' have been offed by the serial killer in their midst, but the other characters can't find his/her body or even any sign of him/her anywhere else on the island. Aha! He/she must be the killer, hiding somewhere that the others can't find! That assumption's shot down when [[spoiler:the surviving characters find his/her body washed up on the shore. The line of the {{nursery rhyme}} referring to the character's sequential death even states that he/she was done in by a Red Herring, having been set up by the ''actual'' killer.]]

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* In the middle of AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', one of the characters mysteriously disappears. He/she ''could'' have been offed by the serial killer in their midst, but the other characters can't find his/her body or even any sign of him/her anywhere else on the island. Aha! He/she must be the killer, hiding somewhere that the others can't find! That assumption's shot down when [[spoiler:the surviving characters find his/her body washed up on the shore. The line of the [[MotherGoose nursery rhyme]] referring to the character's sequential death even states that he/she was done in by a Red Herring, having been set up by the ''actual'' killer.]]

* ''ScoobyDoo'' does this frequently being a mystery show. The SpinoffBabies version, ''APupNamedScoobyDoo'' literally had a character named Red Herring.

*** And, because the Mole would not be obvious about his task, players don't want to make it obvious they are failing on purpose. They want to make it seem like they are doing subtle sabotage ''badly.'' Anyone who is clearly failing on purpose is clearly a RedHerringMole and not the real Mole. (That is, unless the real Mole thought you would think that, and is making himself [[HiddenInPlainSight so obvious you will overlook him]]. Yeah, it's [[ThirtyGambitPileup that kind of show]].)

May involve HangingSeparately. Compare with the BaitAndSwitchTyrant.

The show's designers have set Bob up to be TheMole. It's incredibly obvious that Bob is TheMole. Heck, even the other characters on the show are starting to suspect that Bob is TheMole.

* The monster of ''TheThing'' mimics target animals, including humans. However, over the course of the movie, the various people which are hinted to be the monster (and suspected of being the monster by the others) are all proved to be human.

* In ''[[{{ptitlet2lo201q}} Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]]'', the player is given every reason to think Jolene is responsible for the mysterious disappearances around the Glitz Pit. [[spoiler: Nope, it's Grubba, the Glitz Pit's manager; turns out Jolene was snooping around to find evidence of Grubba's evil plot to expose him.]]

*** And, because the Mole would not be obvious about his task, players don't want to make it obvious they are failing on purpose. They want to make it seem like they are doing subtle sabotage ''badly.'' Anyone who is clearly failing on purpose is clearly a RedHerringMole and not the real Mole. (That is, unless the real Mole thought you would think that, and is making himself [[HiddenInPlainSight so obvious you will overlook him]]. Yeah, it's [[ThirtyXanatosPileup that kind of show]].)

* In the reality TV show named ''[[Series/TheMole The Mole]]'', the object is to identify TheMole among the contestants. Since failed guesses at the Mole's identity get players eliminated from the game, players will often pretend to be the Mole to trick their competitors into guessing wrong.

* BlackAdder Goes Forth has Johann Schmidt, in a hospital where there's believed to be a spy. He speaks with a HEAVY German Drawl. Also leads to this.

* In ''PaperMario: The Thousand Year Door'', the player is given every reason to think Jolene is responsible for the mysterious disappearances around the Glitz Pit. [[spoiler: Nope, it's Grubba, the Glitz Pit's manager; turns out Jolene was snooping around to find evidence of Grubba's evil plot to expose him.]]

* In FireEmblem ''Path of Radiance'', while you're at sea, you see a cutscene with [[BigBad Ashnard]] which basically sums up to that while Ike and co. have escaped with Princess Elincia, they have a spy in their group reporting on their every move. The very next scene, you find a stowaway, the young thief Sothe, on your ship and have to choose whether to recruit him or not. It doesn't help that Sothe won't tell you what he's doing there for quite a few more chapters. [[spoiler:Naturally, Sothe is innocent. He was keeping quiet because he was from Daein, and his true goal has nothing to do with Asnhard. The real mole is Nasir, the trustworthy ally of the Laguz who owns the ship you're on.]]

* ''ScoobyDoo'' does this frequently being a mystery show. The BabiesSpinOff APupNamedScoobyDoo literally had a character named Red Herring.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In the first volume of ''{{Runaways}}'', the mole is subtly hinted at to be [[spoiler:Karolina. It turns out, of course, to be Alex, despite many of Karolina's lines seeming like the kind of thing someone who wished failure upon the mission would say. Nope, Karolina just wasn't that bright.]]
* In the '80s CrisisCrossover ''Millennium'', the premise was that every book had a mole working for the alien robots known as the Manhunters. The writer of ''SuicideSquad'' promptly drafted Mark Shaw, a character who had previously worked with the Manhunters (before turning on them), into the book to be an obvious target of suspicion. Naturally the mole was someone else entirely.

[[quoteright:348:[[TeamFortress2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spytf2.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:348:Right behind you...]]

-->''"What? It was obvious! He's the RED Spy! [[WrongGenreSavvy Watch, he'll turn red any second now]]. See? Red! No wait, that's blood."''
--->-- '''Soldier''', ''[[TeamFortress2 Meet the Spy]]''

So here we come to TheReveal, where it turns out... Bob is [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain most assuredly, definitely, and 100% not]] TheMole! Nope, Bob is a totally innocent character who just had a bunch of unfortunate coincidences surrounding him. There may not be a mole at all, but if there is, it will be an entirely different character, and probably the one that everyone suspected least.

[[TeamFortress2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spytf2.jpg]]
[[caption-width:348:Right behind you...]]

May involve HangingSeparately. Compare with the BaitAndSwitchUmbridge.