History Main / RedHerringMole

May involve DividedWeFall. Compare with the BaitAndSwitchTyrant.

* In the '80s CrisisCrossover ''Comicbook/{{Millennium}}'', the premise was that every book had a mole working for the alien robots known as the Manhunters. The writer of ''Comicbook/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.

* In the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Deliverance Lost'', members of the Alpha Legion have infiltrated the Raven Guard via DeadPersonImpersonation. The narrative strongly hints that one of these infiltrators has replaced Commander Agapito, with his brother Branne growing increasingly suspicious of Agapito’s strange and uncharacteristic behaviour. Agapito turns out to be the real deal, and he acted strangely because he’d figured out what was going on and was trying to thwart the infiltrators.

* In the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Deliverance Lost'', members of the Alpha Legion have infiltrated the Raven Guard via DeadPersonImpersonation. The narrative strongly hints that Commander Agapito has been replaced by one of these infiltrators, with his brother Branne growing increasingly suspicious of Agapito’s strange and uncharacteristic behaviour. As it turns out, Agapito is the real deal, and he was acting strangely because he’d figured out what was going on and was trying to thwart the infiltrators.

* In the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Deliverance Lost'', members of the Alpha Legion have stolen the identities of dead Raven Guard Space Marines in order to infiltrate them. One of these infiltrators is strongly hinted to be Commander Agapito, to the point that his brother Branne—who is unaware of the infiltration plot—grows increasingly suspicious of his strange, uncharacteristic behaviour. It turns out that Agapito is innocent, and was acting strangely because he’d figured out what was going on.

** This got to the point where, in book 6, Rowling devoted an ''entire chapter'' to explain how [[spoiler:Snape can be a loyal Death Eater after seemingly siding with Dumbledore against Voldemort]] in the previous 5 books. This chapter exists for the sole purpose of making it believable that he is very definitely the mole before [[spoiler:he kills Dumbledore at the end of the book.]] In the end, [[spoiler:he was on Harry's side the whole time and was only faking allegiance to the Death Eaters.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Total Rickall", the family deal with alien parasites that take the form of [[RememberTheNewGuy wacky side-characters that come from nowhere]] that have the ability to [[FakeMemories create memories of various misadventures]]. Of note is Mr. Poopybutthole who is not only treated as a beloved family friend but also gets edited into the intro of the episode. At the end of the episode, after all the other parasites are killed Beth shoots Mr. Poopybutthole out of understandable suspicion, only for him to begin bleeding to death rather than turn back into a parasite.

* Ollie Brown in the ''Literature/JoeLedger'' Series, as a former CIA Assassin who was inexplicably kidnapped then not killed instantaneous he was suspect. When he ran off with TheBigBad it looked certain but he was innocent.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': DoubleSubverted. Tony suspects that Big Pussy, one of his oldest friends in the mob, has become an informant for the Feds. After Paulie tries to confirm that Pussy is carrying a wire by taking him to a sauna, Pussy refuses to take his clothes off and skips town. Tony discovers that Jimmy Altieri has been working with the Feds and has him killed with Uncle Junior's approval, while worrying that Paulie killed Pussy on his own initiative. Pussy later returns, actively working as an informant behind Tony's back, before he too is found out and killed by Tony, Paulie, and Sal.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Subverted. Tony suspects that Big Pussy, one of his oldest friends in the mob, has become an informant for the Feds. After Paulie tries to confirm that Pussy is carrying a wire by taking him to a sauna, Pussy refuses to take his clothes off and skips town. Tony discovers that Jimmy Altieri has been working with the Feds and has him killed with Uncle Junior's approval, while worrying that Paulie killed Pussy on his own initiative. Pussy later returns, actively working as an informant behind Tony's back, before he too is found out and killed by Tony, Paulie, and Sal.

** In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E14SexAndViolence "Sex And Violence (S04, E14)"]], the Winchesters are hunting an EnthrallingSiren which disguises itself as human to lure in prey. Sam falls in love with a woman who is strongly hinted to be the siren in question, only for it to turn out to be [[spoiler:a male FBI agent who befriended Dean]].

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], Lily seems to be holding the VillainBall, but it is actually the adorable [[spoiler:Ava]] who begins killing the other Special Children.

* In ''Franchise/FireEmblem: [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]'', while you're at sea, you see a cutscene with [[BigBad Ashnard]] which basically boils down to learning that although 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. The real mole is [[spoiler:Nasir, the trustworthy ally of the Laguz who owns the ship you're on.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', we have Asami Sato. Introduced as the romantic rival to the main character, she wears [[MakeupIsEvil plentiful makeup]], comes from a very wealthy family, and dresses in [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black]], the same color schemes as [[BigBad Amon]] and the [[MugglePower Equalists]]... but she remains completely loyal to the Krew, even turning against her own father when she finds out he's part of the aforementioned Equalists. She ''was'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen initially envisioned as a mole]], with her character design was simply as is when the writers decided she'd be better as a permanent part of the main cast.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s animated short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4N5OhcY9s Meet the Spy]]'': From the moment the BLU Spy saunters into the room (carrying the corpse of one of the RED Spy's victims, no less), he's made out to be the disguised RED Spy that has infiltrated the BLU base, especially since he knows things that seemingly only the RED Spy would know and [[ButHeSoundsHandsome spends the whole time painting his counterpart as an unstoppable, shapeshifting nightmare]]. He's not, but the Soldier [[WrongGenreSavvy certainly believes he is]] and [[YourHeadAsplode blasts his head off with his shotgun]] [[KilledMidSentence in the middle of the Spy's exposition]]. The RED Spy is really [[spoiler:disguised as the Scout, [[ObfuscatingStupidity who spent the whole time]] ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity mocking]]'' [[ObfuscatingStupidity the RED Spy and acting like a goof]]]]. This was also somewhat of a MetaTwist, since up until ''Meet the Spy'' the class in the limelight had never been shown to be on both the RED and BLU teams at the same time.

* For most of the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4N5OhcY9s Meet the Spy]]'' ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' short, the BLU Spy is made out to be the RED Spy in disguise. He saunters into the intel room behind everyone else carrying the corpse of one of the RED Spy's victims, knows things that seemingly only the RED Spy would know and [[ButHeSoundsHandsome spends the whole time painting his counterpart as an unstoppable, shapeshifting badass]]. He's not, but the Soldier [[WrongGenreSavvy certainly believes he is]] and [[YourHeadAsplode blasts his head off with his shotgun]] [[KilledMidSentence in the middle of the Spy's exposition]]. The RED Spy is really [[spoiler:disguised as the Scout, [[ObfuscatingStupidity who spent the whole time]] ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity mocking]]'' [[ObfuscatingStupidity the RED Spy and acting like a goof]]]]. This was also somewhat of a MetaTwist, since up until ''Meet the Spy'' the class in the limelight had never been shown to be on both the RED and BLU teams at the same time.

* For most of the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4N5OhcY9s Meet the Spy]]'' ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' short, the BLU Spy is made out to be the RED Spy in disguise. He saunters into the intel room behind everyone else carrying the corpse of one of the RED Spy's victims, knows things that seemingly only the RED Spy would know and [[ButHeSoundsHandsome spends the whole time painting his counterpart as an unstoppable, shapeshifting badass]]. He's not, but the Soldier [[WrongGenreSavvy certainly believes he is]] and [[YourHeadAsplode blasts his head off with his shotgun]] [[KilledMidSentence in the middle of the Spy's exposition]]. The RED Spy is really disguised as the Scout, [[ObfuscatingStupidity who spent the whole time]] ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity mocking]]'' [[ObfuscatingStupidity the RED Spy and acting like a goof]]. This was also somewhat of a MetaTwist, since up until ''Meet the Spy'' the class in the limelight had never been shown to be on both the RED and BLU teams at the same time.

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

** The first is Gabe, an outsider FBI agent who was [[SixthRanger abruptly sent to accompany the trainees]] on their mission, who is later found to have detailed files on the others and maps of the island hidden among his belongings. This causes the others to suspect him of being the killer in their midst, and it takes Gabe saving another person's life to prove his innocence. He was really there to investigate their supervisor, whose controversial methods didn't sit well with the higher-ups.

'''[[TheDitz George]]:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint NINE!?]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Cap's got his work cut out for him, then!]]

* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld:'' While Thor seeks Loki's help, everyone including Thor himself is quite aware Loki is going to betray him eventually. They even use this to their advantage when tricking Malekith into exposing the Aether. Loki doesn't betray Thor, but he does trick Thor into thinking he died while he goes into hiding via shapeshifting.

* ''Anime/AKB0048'': Despite her aloof behavior, distance from others, and knowledge that her company made the weapons that the DES were using, Chieri is not a DES spy.

* ''Anime/AKB0048'': Despite the cold and serious attitude she displayed in earlier episodes and knowing that her company made the weapons the DES were using, Chieri is not a DES spy.