History Quotes / GambitPileup

->'''WebVideo/MauLer:''' You have the ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Winter Soldier]]'' where Zola says "Every time history didn't cooperate we would make it". So if a war did or didn't start that they wanted, or if a politician did or didn't make a decision they wanted, they would fuck with it. And they've been doing that for many many decades. But apparently Dreykov had been doing it also.\\

->''"A good player who loses at chess is genuinely convinced that he has lost because of a mistake, and he looks for this mistake in the beginning of his game, but forgets that there were also mistakes at every step in the course of the game, that none of his moves are perfect. The mistake he pays attention to is conspicuous only because his opponent took advantage of it. How much more complex is the game of war, which takes place in certain conditions of time and where no single will is guiding lifeless mechanisms, but everything is the result of numberless collisions of various wills?"''

->''Fancy what a game of chess would be if all the chessmen had passions and intellects, more or less small and cunning; if you were not only uncertain about your adversary's men, but a little uncertain also about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away from their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden. You might be the longest-headed of deductive reasoners, and yet you might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be especially likely to be beaten, if you depended arrogantly on your mathematical imagination, and regarded your passionate pieces with contempt. Yet this imaginary chess is easy compared with the game a man has to play against his fellow-men with other fellow-men for his instruments.''
-->-- ''Felix Holt'', by Creator/GeorgeEliot

->''Note that in this case, we have Harry plotting to [[InvokedTrope deliberately cause a Thirty Xanatos Pileup]] among the soldiers of the other armies, which I propose should have a Xanatos [[MoreThanInfinite Ordinal of w+1]] (that is, omega plus one). Considering that the chaos of the complete battle, including Harry's own plot and Dumbledore's, was used by Professor Quirrell to make the point of his speech, it is clear that the complete Xanatos Flowchart for this chapter would have an Xanatos Infinite Ordinal of at least 2w+1.''

->''"But fortunately [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow I anticipated your anticipation of my anticipation of your anticipation of my anticipation of your anticipation]] of my treachery!" cried Zarkendorf.''

->''But the scientist was intelligent enough to make finding him a game of cat and mouse world wide, where the cat and mouse changed positions every five moments back and forth. A battle of wits the likes the Court had not seen in ages. Plans within plans within plans were made, with multi-layered facades and espionage being exchanged like slashes in a sword fight. Both sides as ruthless and cunning as the other.''

->''This sounds like the greatest comedy film ever.\\

Federation: "What the hell is going on?"''

->''"You'll never get away with this. It's too late for you to intercept the Princess' messengers."\\

"Shit. Wait."''
-->-- '''[[https://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/636513530378633216/prokopetz-prokopetz-youll-never-get-away-with David J Prokopetz]]'''

-->--'''Sai''', ''Fanfic/{{Hakumei}}''

-->-- '''Toastyfrog''', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2 [[http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailMetalGearSolid2-05 thumbnail theatre]]''

->''"D'ye think we "mighty ones" are blind? Do we not watch each other, and guess at what each is doing, and reach out and do some little thing that hampers the aims of another great and mighty? We'll never be free of this problem, and that's a good thing. I would cower at the thought of living in any Faerûn where all the mighty and powerful folk agreed perfectly on everything. That's the way of slavery and shackles and armed tyranny... and if ye'd like to win a bet, wager that ye'll be near the bottom of any such order."''

->"Excuse me! If anyone is planning to stage a coup, topple the government, or in some way manipulate the ruling class, would you please raise your hand."\\
''*Everyone in sight raises a hand*''

-->--'''Severus Snape''', ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality''

->''"But fortunately I anticipated your anticipation of my anticipation of your anticipation of my anticipation of your anticipation of my treachery!" cried Zarkendorf.''
-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''

'''The Major:''' Ah, herr Doctor, but that ''is'' the plan. Now that they know our plan they will plan around our plan. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow And so we shall in turn plan around the plan that they are planning around our plan!]]\\

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheJoker''', ''Film/TheDarkKnight''

->'''Harry''': He's going to betray me.\\
'''Mab''': Of course. I expect superior, more creative treachery on your part.
-->--''Literature/SkinGame'' (book fifteen of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'') by Jim Butcher

->'''ComicBook/DoctorDoom''': (''zaps Luthor'') Did you really think I was not prepared for your treachery?\\
'''ComicBook/LexLuthor''': Did you really think I was not prepared for your preparation? (''zaps Doom'')\\
'''Doctor Doom''': Or that I wasn't prepared for that? (''zaps Luthor'')\\
'''Lex Luthor''': Or I for that? (''zaps Doom'')

-> '''Pops Racer''': What is this?\\
'''Cruncher Block''': This is called a change of plans.\\
'''Cruncher Thug''': Yeah, that's right. We're changing your plan, that changed our plan, to change ''your'' plan.

->''"Oh, it's a case of [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow they think I'll think that they'll do A, so they'll do B because I wouldn't think they'd think of that but then I might think I know what they're thinking they'll do A after all because I wouldn't think they'd think that way.]]"''
-->--'''Will Treaty''', ''Literature/RangersApprentice''

-> ''But the scientist was intelligent enough to make finding him a game of cat and mouse world wide, where the cat and mouse changed positions every five moments back and forth. A battle of wits the likes the Court had not seen in ages. Plans within plans within plans were made, with multi-layered facades and espionage being exchanged like slashes in a sword fight. Both sides as ruthless and cunning as the other.''

-> ''It’s just this total clash and train wreck of differing interests, circumstances and opportunities, accidents and twists that nobody could account for, and blind spots, all coming and crashing together into utter chaos, a mess nobody can predict, debris and shrapnel of characters and new plot points flying all over the place, and you can’t tear your eyes away from it as you watch in fascinated horror, utterly engrossed.''

-> This sounds like the greatest comedy film ever.
-> "Just as planned we manipulated you via this one random terrorist attack!! haha"
-> "Just as planned they think the terrorist attack was their idea!! When in reality we needed them to do that for our secondary interest in the metal manufacturing industry there."
-> "Hahahha they think their plan to damage the metal industry worked. When in reality we had funneled all the resources to us and used their plan to hide it!"
-> "Good news for us we bought out a one of their squids so they instead sent half the metal to us. Then we added a chemical component to weaken the batch sent to them!"
-> "Just as planned! I knew making them focus on that metal industry though the manipulation of the market forces would have them not think as much on the build of their ships! Now with our superior arms we will take them all down!!"
-> "I'm glad we where able to sneak bombs in to the vast majority of the others major industry! Try taking us down with no resources to do so."
-> Federation: "What the hell is going on?"
-->--[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/kathalonda-resurgent-from-the-ashes-sequel-empire-builder.247279/page-77#post-12287315 Truthswraith]], ''Website/SpacebattlesDotCom''

-> '''WebVideo/MauLer''': You have the ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Winter Soldier]]'' where Zola says "Every time history didn't cooperate we would make it". So if a war did or didn't start that they wanted, or if a politician did or didn't make a decision they wanted, they would fuck with it. And they've been doing that for many many decades. But apparently Dreykov had been doing it also.
-> '''Rags''': But also the [[Series/Loki2021 TVA]] have been doing it as well.
-> '''[=MauLer=]''': Yep. You've got to love all these little factions being like "''I'm'' the one who's really in control". It's like "well no ''I'm'' the one who's really in control".
-> '''Rags''': It's ridiculous at this point. Every time you see something you have to wonder what the strange super secret hierarchy of decision making and approval is from these clandestine organizations that may or may not yet exist, and... people can't just do things anymore.
-->--Podcast/EveryFrameAPause, discussing ''Film/BlackWidow2021''

->"You'll never get away with this. It's too late for you to intercept the Princess' messengers."\\

"Wait, I’m confused – I thought the Charnian ambassador was really the Queen’s spymaster in disguise?"\\
"That’s what the Queen's spymaster wants us to think. By the time they realise I've seen through their ruse, the sacred scrolls will already be in the hands of the Cobblers' Guild – and the Archchancellor will be none the wiser!"\\
"...''you’re'' the Archchancellor."\\
"Shit. Wait."
-->--[[https://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/636513530378633216/prokopetz-prokopetz-youll-never-get-away-with David J Prokopetz]]

->''Miss [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet Polly Plunkett]] killed the marquess -\\
Both were suspected of spying.\\
She is a lass who, alas, loves a lad\\
Whose young lass in Alsace\\
Vanished in the dark -\\
[[IKnowYouKnowIKnow We disembark]]\\
[[Literature/SherlockHolmes At Canterbury.]]''

-->-- '''[[https://sepublic.tumblr.com/post/648738735208497152/i-love-how-by-the-end-of-the-third sepublic]]''' on season 2B of ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia''

->- ''It’s just this total clash and train wreck of differing interests, circumstances and opportunities, accidents and twists that nobody could account for, and blind spots, all coming and crashing together into utter chaos, a mess nobody can predict, debris and shrapnel of characters and new plot points flying all over the place, and you can’t tear your eyes away from it as you watch in fascinated horror, utterly engrossed.''

->Does everyone here seem to have their own hidden agenda, or is it just me?

->"A good player who loses at chess is genuinely convinced that he has lost because of a mistake, and he looks for this mistake in the beginning of his game, but forgets that there were also mistakes at every step in the course of the game, that none of his moves are perfect. The mistake he pays attention to is conspicuous only because his opponent took advantage of it. How much more complex is the game of war, which takes place in certain conditions of time and where no single will is guiding lifeless mechanisms, but everything is the result of numberless collisions of various wills?"

->Later, when the fatline call to pilgrimage came from Gladstone herself, I knew the role the Ousters had planned for me in these final days: the Ousters, the Core, or Gladstone and her machinations. It no longer matters who considers themselves the master of events. Events no longer obey their masters.

-> Even when it's quiet in Mulmaster, it's not really quiet — ye can hear the sound of everyone who's still awake plotting, always plotting.

-> Did you not know? Other places grow corn, or barley, but here in hard-paved Waterdeep, we have healthy crops too. We grow conspiracies.

->D'ye think we "mighty ones" are blind? Do we not watch each other, and guess at what each is doing, and reach out and do some little thing that hampers the aims of another great and mighty? We'll never be free of this problem, and that's a good thing. I would cower at the thought of living in any Faerûn where all the mighty and powerful folk agreed perfectly on everything. That's the way of slavery and shackles and armed tyranny... and if ye'd like to win a bet, wager that ye'll be near the bottom of any such order.

->Excuse me! If anyone is planning to stage a coup, topple the government, or in some way manipulate the ruling class, would you please raise your hand.\\

-->-- ''{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}}''

->What game is this, where every player on the board claims the same pawn?
-->-- '''Raziel''', ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series

->Note that in this case, we have Harry plotting to [[InvokedTrope deliberately cause a Thirty Xanatos Pileup]] among the soldiers of the other armies, which I propose should have a Xanatos [[MoreThanInfinite Ordinal of w+1]] (that is, omega plus one). Considering that the chaos of the complete battle, including Harry's own plot and Dumbledore's, was used by Professor Quirrell to make the point of his speech, it is clear that the complete Xanatos Flowchart for this chapter would have an Xanatos Infinite Ordinal of at least 2w+1.

-->-- '''The Joker''', ''Film/TheDarkKnight''

->'''Doctor Doom''': (''zaps Luthor'') Did you really think I was not prepared for your treachery?\\

->'''Will:''' Oh, it's a case of [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow they think I'll think that they'll do A, so they'll do B because I wouldn't think they'd think of that but then I might think I know what they're thinking they'll do A after all because I wouldn't think they'd think that way.]]
-->--''Literature/RangersApprentice''

-->--‘’’Sai’’’, ‘’Fanfic/{{Hakumei}}’’

'''Raiden:''' Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.

-> Even when it's quiet in Mulmaster, it's not really quiet -- ye can hear the sound of everyone who's still awake plotting, always plotting.

->'''The Doktor:''' But, Major, now that they know of our plans--\\
'''The Major:''' Ah, herr Doctor, but that ''is'' the plan. Now that they know our plan they will plan around our plan. And so we shall in turn plan around the plan that they are planning around our plan!\\

-->-- ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'', ''Dr. Toxikon Strikes Back''

-->-- ''Fanfic/CodexEquus''

-> ''Plans within plans within plans were made, with multi-layered facades and espionage being exchanged like slashes in a sword fight. Both sides as ruthless and cunning as the other. Toxikon was also not only one drake, having followers as devoted to his cause as himself, but shrouded in mystery as to their origins and involvement, in part because Toxikon utilized many tactics the Changelings themselves used to hide their identities.''

'''Cruncher Thug''': Yeah, that's right. We're changing your plan, that changed our plan, to change ''your'' plan.\\
-->--''Film/SpeedRacer''

-->-- ''Literature/SkinGame'' (book fifteen of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'') by Jim Butcher

-->-- ''Film/SpeedRacer''