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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', King Garon plans to have the Avatar dead. Too bad the two times he expresses such a desire, it's when someone else is in his vincinity: [[spoiler: Xander]] (in ''Conquest'') and [[spoiler: Elise]] (in ''Revelations''). Both of them decide to work against it, by either [[spoiler: sending reinforcements to spoil an UriahGambit]] in the first case, and by [[spoiler: secretly sneaking out of the castle to join the "traitor" anyway]] in the second.
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', King Garon plans to have the Avatar dead. Too bad the two times he expresses such a desire, it's when someone else is in his vincinity: [[spoiler: Xander]] (in ''Conquest'') and [[spoiler: Elise]] (in ''Revelations'').''Revelation''). Both of them decide to work against it, by either [[spoiler: sending reinforcements to spoil an UriahGambit]] in the first case, and by [[spoiler: secretly sneaking out of the castle to join the "traitor" anyway]] in the second.
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* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' has one in the form of a dock worker on the colony being attacked in the prologue mission. [[TheDragon Saren]] finds his comrade Nilus and murders him to keep him from interfering with his plan. The dock worker saw the whole thing and promptly told Shepard when they showed up. The only reason the dock worker was even still alive was because he was napping behind a wall of shipping crates when the attack happened. He was concealed from the notice of Saren and the geth, and was in the perfect position to witness the murder. Without him, no one would have caught on to Saren's plans until it was too late]].
** Shepard qualifies throughout the franchise in regards to the Reaper cycle. Every 50,000 years, the Reapers descend from on high and launch the systematic genocide of every sentient, space-faring species, organic or synthetic, because [[spoiler: that was the solution they came up with for their creator's concern about the inevitability of organic vs. synthetic race wars]]. While they are used to resistance, they still successfully complete the culling and leave. Then comes Shepard, who aids or spearheads the destruction of several Reapers and [[spoiler: finds a way to either destroy them completely, control them, or merge organic and synthetic life to render their mission statement obsolete]].
** Shepard qualifies throughout the franchise in regards to the Reaper cycle. Every 50,000 years, the Reapers descend from on high and launch the systematic genocide of every sentient, space-faring species, organic or synthetic, because [[spoiler: that was the solution they came up with for their creator's concern about the inevitability of organic vs. synthetic race wars]]. While they are used to resistance, they still successfully complete the culling and leave. Then comes Shepard, who aids or spearheads the destruction of several Reapers and [[spoiler: finds a way to either destroy them completely, control them, or merge organic and synthetic life to render their mission statement obsolete]].
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', one of these appeared in the backstory. [[spoiler: The Grimleal aka the local ReligionOfEvil has carried a SuperBreedingProgram for at least four generations, trying to have a baby conceived with enough Grima blood in him/her to make him/her the perfect host for Grima, the EvilGod of the story. They didn't count, however, on the mother of the last baby ''and'' most perfected Grima prospect vessel [[DeliverUsFromEvil actually changing her mind]] [[MamaBear and running away with her son/daughter]] rather than allowing his/her father, EvilSorceror Validar, use the baby for such deals.]] Thanks to this, [[spoiler: the prospect vessel grew away from the ReligionOfEvil... and became [[PlayerCharacter the Avatar]] aka ''the Protagonist of the game''.]]
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', one of these appeared in the backstory. [[spoiler: The Grimleal aka the local ReligionOfEvil has carried a SuperBreedingProgram for at least four generations, trying to have a baby conceived with enough Grima blood in him/her to get the full mark and thus make him/her the perfect host [[GrandTheftMe host]] for Grima, Grima the EvilGod Evil dragon of the story. They didn't count, however, on the mother of the last baby ''and'' most perfected Grima prospect vessel [[DeliverUsFromEvil actually changing her mind]] [[MamaBear and running away with her son/daughter]] rather than allowing his/her father, EvilSorceror Validar, use the baby for such deals.baby. Its unclear if the mother was part of the religion or not.]] Thanks to this, [[spoiler: the prospect vessel grew away from the ReligionOfEvil... and became [[PlayerCharacter the Avatar]] aka ''the Protagonist of the game''.]]
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'', [[spoiler: Manfroy's StalkerWithATestTube plan to have the perfect SoulJar for EvilGod Lopto]] ''did'' work… but was thrown off by [[spoiler: how the mother of said SoulJar gave birth to ''twins''... and the sister of the SoulJar actually had the [[HeroicLineage Sacred Blood]] needed to handle the perfect weapon to ''vanquish Lopto away''. And then the girl was spirited away by her dying mother and later was "adopted" by LaResistance…]]
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'', [[spoiler: Manfroy's StalkerWithATestTube plan to have the perfect SoulJar for EvilGod Lopto]] ''did'' work… but was thrown off by [[spoiler: how the mother of said SoulJar gave birth to ''twins''... and the sister of the SoulJar actually had the [[HeroicLineage Sacred Blood]] needed to handle the perfect weapon to ''vanquish Lopto away''. And then the girl was spirited away by her dying mother and later was "adopted" by LaResistance…]]LaResistance… led by her and her twin's older half-brother, a boy who ALSO has Sacred Blood ''and'' is getting ready to go against the Empire....]]
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* ''[[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]]'': The F-Con CEO had been planning his takeover of Encom and invasion of {{cyberspace}} with Datawraith mercenaries for ''twenty years.'' (It's impled he was Edward Dillinger from [[{{Film/Tron}} the first film]], out for payback after being forced out of Encom in disgrace). Things would have gone swimmingly...if Alan Bradley hadn't been arguing with his son [[SpinOffspring Jethro]] at the time F-con's thugs burst in the room and kidnapped him, and if Jethro hadn't been standing in just the right spot for Ma3a to kidnap ''him'' via Shiva laser.
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* ''[[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]]'': The F-Con CEO had been planning his takeover of Encom and invasion of {{cyberspace}} with Datawraith mercenaries for ''twenty years.'' (It's impled he was Edward Dillinger from [[{{Film/Tron}} the first film]], out for payback after being forced out of Encom in disgrace). Things would have gone swimmingly...if Alan Bradley hadn't been arguing with his son [[SpinOffspring Jethro]] at the time F-con's thugs burst in the room and kidnapped him, and if Jethro hadn't been standing in just the right spot for Ma3a [=Ma3a=] to kidnap ''him'' via Shiva laser.
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* Manny from ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' undoes a scheme to steal peoples' eternal rewards when he steals one of his rival's clients out of jealousy.
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* Manny from ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' undoes steals one of his rival coworker's clients out of jealousy at the beginning of the game, and in the process uncovers, and eventually completely dismantles, a crime boss's long-running scheme to steal peoples' eternal rewards when he steals one of his rival's clients out of jealousy.rewards.
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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', King Garon plans to have the Avatar dead. Too bad the two times he expresses such a desire, it's when someone else is in his vincinity: [[spoiler: Xander]] (in ''Conquest'') and [[spoiler: Elise]] (in ''Revelations''). Both of them decide to work against it, by either [[spoiler: sending reinforcements to spoil an UriahGambit]] in the first case, and by [[spoiler: secretly sneaking out of the castle to join the "traitor" anyway]] in the second.
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* This is Flemeth's role in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. The only thing preventing both the human BigBad and the [[BiggerBad Archdemon]] from succeeding in their respective plots is the fact that two young Grey Wardens survive the disaster that was the Battle of Ostagar, and go on from there to save the world. And the reason they survive is Flemeth.
** Similarly, the Inquisitor is the resident spanner for the BigBad in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. The one person who survives the massive explosion at the beginning of the game is the one person able to stop his plans.
** Similarly, the Inquisitor is the resident spanner for the BigBad in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. The one person who survives the massive explosion at the beginning of the game is the one person able to stop his plans.
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* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - While [[MagnificentBastard the Spy's]] entire ''job'' is to be the Spanner in the enemy team's works, random chance tends to play this role in otherwise evenly matched teams, as nobody can account for that stray lucky critical hit.
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* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** While [[MagnificentBastard the Spy's]] entire ''job'' is to be the Spanner in the enemy team's works, random chance tends to play this role in otherwise evenly matched teams, as nobody can account for that stray lucky criticalhit.hit (some players consider this to be such a ScrappyMechanic that they play on servers where random crits are turned off).
** While [[MagnificentBastard the Spy's]] entire ''job'' is to be the Spanner in the enemy team's works, random chance tends to play this role in otherwise evenly matched teams, as nobody can account for that stray lucky critical
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* The Alien protagonist in ''[[AlienVsPredator Aliens vs. Predator 2]]''.
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* The Alien protagonist in ''[[AlienVsPredator ''[[VideoGame/AliensVsPredator Aliens vs. Predator 2]]''.
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* Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is the only one besides Ashe to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks. This implies that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge should Ashe falter]]. Probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model, as seen when he refuses to take revenge on Gabranth for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push Ashe needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
* It's not so easy to see because he's a minor villain, but the [[FinalFantasyI Dark Elf King Astos]] has been at his plot for years, then the Warriors of Light come out of nowhere, on a completely unrelated quest, and straight up murder him. And while it might seem like Astos spanned his own plot, his theory was that the artifacts he tricked the Warriors of Light into getting him would make him all-powerful, so revealing himself isn't stupid so much as GenreBlindness.
** [[DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]] also retcons it that just one Warrior of Light, who is a [[spoiler: Manikin]]. This guy is such a spanner that he manages to bring down plots in two worlds without even knowing his own name, let alone his ridiculously complicated origin story.
* It's not so easy to see because he's a minor villain, but the [[FinalFantasyI Dark Elf King Astos]] has been at his plot for years, then the Warriors of Light come out of nowhere, on a completely unrelated quest, and straight up murder him. And while it might seem like Astos spanned his own plot, his theory was that the artifacts he tricked the Warriors of Light into getting him would make him all-powerful, so revealing himself isn't stupid so much as GenreBlindness.
** [[DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]] also retcons it that just one Warrior of Light, who is a [[spoiler: Manikin]]. This guy is such a spanner that he manages to bring down plots in two worlds without even knowing his own name, let alone his ridiculously complicated origin story.
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* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is the only one besides Ashe to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks. This implies that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge should Ashe falter]]. Probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model, as seen when he refuses to take revenge on Gabranth for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push Ashe needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
* ** It's not so easy to see because he's a minor villain, but the [[FinalFantasyI [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Dark Elf King Astos]] has been at his plot for years, then the Warriors of Light come out of nowhere, on a completely unrelated quest, and straight up murder him. And while it might seem like Astos spanned his own plot, his theory was that the artifacts he tricked the Warriors of Light into getting him would make him all-powerful, so revealing himself isn't stupid so much as GenreBlindness.
**[[DissidiaFinalFantasy ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]] also 012]]'' retcons it that just one Warrior of Light, who is a [[spoiler: Manikin]]. This guy is such a spanner that he manages to bring down plots in two worlds without even knowing his own name, let alone his ridiculously complicated origin story.
** Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is the only one besides Ashe to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks. This implies that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge should Ashe falter]]. Probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model, as seen when he refuses to take revenge on Gabranth for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push Ashe needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
**
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'better example' isn't exactly polite (hypocrisy I know)
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* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an ominous ring of land, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
** Actually the better example is how a pair of excavators accidentally awaken Grey, [[spoiler:Master Albert's back-up body]]. After witnessing what Model W can do, Grey ends up saying no to Master Albert's plan and becomes instrumental in his downfall. Ashe also counts since in her storyline, she encounters Model A by accident and singlehandedly ruins Albert's plan as well.
*** Albert even notes that her appearing was entirely unpredicted, and the amount of trouble she caused for him surprised most people directly involved.
** Actually the better example is how a pair of excavators accidentally awaken Grey, [[spoiler:Master Albert's back-up body]]. After witnessing what Model W can do, Grey ends up saying no to Master Albert's plan and becomes instrumental in his downfall. Ashe also counts since in her storyline, she encounters Model A by accident and singlehandedly ruins Albert's plan as well.
*** Albert even notes that her appearing was entirely unpredicted, and the amount of trouble she caused for him surprised most people directly involved.
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* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the ''VideoGame/MegaManZX''
** The cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an ominous ring of land, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
**Actually the better Another example is how a pair of excavators accidentally awaken Grey, [[spoiler:Master Albert's back-up body]]. After witnessing what Model W can do, Grey ends up saying no to Master Albert's plan and becomes instrumental in his downfall. Ashe also counts since in her storyline, she encounters Model A by accident and singlehandedly ruins Albert's plan as well.
***well. Albert even notes that her appearing was entirely unpredicted, and the amount of trouble she caused for him surprised most people directly involved.
** The cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an ominous ring of land, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
**
***
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Dangerously Genre Savvy is being merged with Genre Savvy. Misuse and zero context examples will be cut.
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge The second game]]? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge The second game]]? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' ''prevent him'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
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* Manny from ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' undoes a scheme to steal peoples' eternal rewards when he steals one of his rival's clients out of jealousy.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' offers a minor example in the Dark Elf. A monster who messed up Golbez's plans to steal the Earth Crystal from Troia by snatching it first and running off to a cave where he rendered metal weapons unusable. Golbez [[XanatosSpeedChess works around this]] by sending protagonist Cecil to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService fetch the crystal]] in exchange for [[DamselInDistress Rosa]].
* Believe it or not, Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' fits this role very well. While he appears to be simply a throwaway character, he is the only one besides [[spoiler:Ashe]] to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks]]. This implies that [[spoiler:the Occuria]] felt that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to [[spoiler:become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge, should Ashe falter]], probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model for [[spoiler:Ashe]], as seen when he refuses to take revenge on [[spoiler:Gabranth]] for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push she needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
* Believe it or not, Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' fits this role very well. While he appears to be simply a throwaway character, he is the only one besides [[spoiler:Ashe]] to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks]]. This implies that [[spoiler:the Occuria]] felt that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to [[spoiler:become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge, should Ashe falter]], probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model for [[spoiler:Ashe]], as seen when he refuses to take revenge on [[spoiler:Gabranth]] for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push she needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' offers a minor example in has the Dark Elf. A monster who messed Elf mess up Golbez's plans to steal the Earth Crystal from Troia by snatching it first and running off to a cave where he rendered metal weapons unusable.unusable. The Dark Elf did this basically because the crystal was shiny. Golbez [[XanatosSpeedChess works around this]] by sending protagonist Cecil to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService fetch the crystal]] in exchange for [[DamselInDistress Rosa]].
*Believe it or not, Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' fits this role very well. While he appears to be simply a throwaway character, he is the only one besides [[spoiler:Ashe]] Ashe to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks]]. Reks. This implies that [[spoiler:the Occuria]] felt that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to [[spoiler:become become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge, revenge should Ashe falter]], probably falter]]. Probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model for [[spoiler:Ashe]], model, as seen when he refuses to take revenge on [[spoiler:Gabranth]] Gabranth for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push she Ashe needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
*
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* Corvo becomes this to the conspirators against the Empress in ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}''. He returns to Dunwall two days earlier than expected, so BigBad Hiram Burrows [[XanatosSpeedChess works this into his plan]] by framing Corvo for the murder of the Empress. Considering Corvo's in-universe reputation as a OneManArmy, this turns out to be a very bad idea. Not only does Corvo escape jail, he becomes the worst threat Burrows had ever faced.
** The loyalist conspiracy gets this as well. [[spoiler:Samuel becomes the spanner by only giving Corvo half the dose of poison meant to kill him, either out of loyalty to Corvo or because there's no one else who can stop them, depending on how chaotic Corvo's acted.]]
** The loyalist conspiracy gets this as well. [[spoiler:Samuel becomes the spanner by only giving Corvo half the dose of poison meant to kill him, either out of loyalty to Corvo or because there's no one else who can stop them, depending on how chaotic Corvo's acted.]]
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** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokemon Platinum]]'', Team Galactic were seconds away from victory - the protagonist and rival were just a bit too late to Spear Pillar, and the Champion was still en route. The universe should have been destroyed... [[spoiler:except that Cyrus didn't realise there was a ''third'' cosmic dragon around, as it was so horrific that even the mythology of Sinnoh never mentioned it. Said dragon - Giratina - opens up a portal to the Distortion World right in front of Cyrus and pulls him, plus the three lake guardians, into its world. This breaks Cyrus's control over Palkia and Dialga and ultimately stops him from remaking reality.]]
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** In the fangame VideoGame/PokemonReborn, this happens to the villainous team, Team Meteor, at the very start of the game: [[spoiler: they were one terrorist attack away from destroying Reborn City's power plant and plunging it into anarchy, allowing them to carry out their EvilPlan, but two things happened: first, a grunt got captured after bombing a train station in an effort to keep people from entering the city, and fessed up about Team Meteor's plans, allowing the Gym Leaders to stop the destruction of the power plant; and second, the PlayerCharacter arrived and began to systematically foil their plans one by one, usually because they got dragged into foiling them by their new friends.]]
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** In the fangame VideoGame/PokemonReborn, ''VideoGame/PokemonReborn'', this happens to the villainous team, Team Meteor, at the very start of the game: [[spoiler: they were one terrorist attack away from destroying Reborn City's power plant and plunging it into anarchy, allowing them to carry out their EvilPlan, but two things happened: first, a grunt got captured after bombing a train station in an effort to keep people from entering the city, and fessed up about Team Meteor's plans, allowing the Gym Leaders to stop the destruction of the power plant; and second, the PlayerCharacter arrived and began to systematically foil their plans one by one, usually because they got dragged into foiling them by their new friends.]]
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** In the fangame VideoGame/PokemonReborn, this happens to the villainous team, Team Meteor, at the very start of the game: [[spoiler: they were one terrorist attack away from destroying Reborn City's power plant and plunging it into anarchy, allowing them to carry out their EvilPlan, but two things happened: first, a grunt got captured after bombing a train station in an effort to keep people from entering the city, and fessed up about Team Meteor's plans, allowing the Gym Leaders to stop the destruction of the power plant; and second, the PlayerCharacter arrived and began to systematically foil their plans one by one, usually because they got dragged into foiling them by their new friends.]]
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter The first game]]? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter The first game]]? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', ''Arcadia'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Fourth game]]? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifth game]]? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifth game]]? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Fourth game]]? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively pre-emptively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifth game]]? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transportingtetragenic teratogenic sludge?
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifth game]]? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting
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** The first game? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
** The second game? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
** Third game? Roger was just good enough at Astro-Chicken and just bored enough to find and investigate the secret message from Pug's captive programmers.
** Fourth game? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** Fifth game? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** Sixth game: Stellar the the spanner. Sharpei wanted to commit GrandTheftMe on Roger, figuring he wouldn't be missed. But Stellar steps in at the last minute, makes a HeroicSacrifice, and Roger decides he's going to rescue his pal. Sharpei and her plan did not survive.
** The second game? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
** Third game? Roger was just good enough at Astro-Chicken and just bored enough to find and investigate the secret message from Pug's captive programmers.
** Fourth game? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** Fifth game? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** Sixth game: Stellar the the spanner. Sharpei wanted to commit GrandTheftMe on Roger, figuring he wouldn't be missed. But Stellar steps in at the last minute, makes a HeroicSacrifice, and Roger decides he's going to rescue his pal. Sharpei and her plan did not survive.
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** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter The first game? game]]? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge The secondgame? game]]? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon Thirdgame? game]]? Roger was just good enough at Astro-Chicken and just bored enough to find and investigate the secret message from Pug's captive programmers.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Fourthgame? game]]? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifthgame? game]]? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier Sixthgame: game]]: Stellar the the spanner. Sharpei wanted to commit GrandTheftMe on Roger, figuring he wouldn't be missed. But Stellar steps in at the last minute, makes a HeroicSacrifice, and Roger decides he's going to rescue his pal. Sharpei and her plan did not survive.
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge The second
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon Third
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Fourth
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Fifth
** [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier Sixth
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* Sierra loved this one, because much of SpaceQuest ran on this as well. Roger Wilco had just the good (or bad) luck to send the best laid plans careening into a cliff.
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* Sierra loved this one, because much of SpaceQuest ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' ran on this as well. Roger Wilco had just the good (or bad) luck to send the best laid plans careening into a cliff.
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* In ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', the schemes of the GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler:fallen Xel'naga Amon]] were derailed by a few ships carrying tens of thousands of human prisoners/colonists overshot their target destination and crash-landed in the Koprulu Sector. This accident introduced a race of stubborn idiots who quickly became power rivaling the Protoss and the Zerg [[spoiler:and the only ones who Amon wasn't able to control en masse through some psychic leash like the Khala and the Zerg Overmind.]] The schemes that [[spoiler:Amon and Duran]] tried to exploit them had some short-term success but ultimately resulted in nothing more than [[spoiler:the creation of the very beings who would kill them. Kerrigan slays Amon, while Stukov slays Duran.]]
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* In ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', the schemes of the GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler:fallen Xel'naga Amon]] were derailed by a few ships carrying tens of thousands of human prisoners/colonists that overshot their target destination and crash-landed in the Koprulu Sector. This accident introduced a race of stubborn idiots who quickly became a power rivaling the Protoss and the Zerg [[spoiler:and the only ones who Amon wasn't able to control en masse through some psychic leash like the Khala and the Zerg Overmind.]] The schemes that [[spoiler:Amon and Duran]] tried to exploit them had some short-term success but ultimately resulted in nothing more than [[spoiler:the creation of the very beings who would kill them. Kerrigan slays Amon, while Stukov slays Duran.]]
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* In ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', the schemes of the GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler:fallen Xel'naga Amon]] were derailed by a few ships carrying tens of thousands of human prisoners/colonists overshot their target destination and crash-landed in the Koprulu Sector. This accident introduced a race of stubborn idiots who quickly became power rivaling the Protoss and the Zerg [[spoiler:and the only ones who Amon wasn't able to control en masse through some psychic leash like the Khala and the Zerg Overmind.]] The schemes that [[spoiler:Amon and Duran]] tried to exploit them had some short-term success but ultimately resulted in nothing more than [[spoiler:the creation of the very beings who would kill them. Kerrigan slays Amon, while Stukov slays Duran.]]
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** [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo "And I would have gotten away with it, too! If it weren't for you meddling kids and that dog!]]
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** [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo "And I would have gotten away with it, too! If it weren't for you meddling kids and that dog!]]dog!"]]
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* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an OminousRingOfLand, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
to:
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an OminousRingOfLand, ominous ring of land, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
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** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess... And who set up the Daventry Prince with Princess of the Green Isles together in the first place? [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Mordack. He kidnapped the princess on Abdul's behalf and also happened to abduct Daventry's royal family, prompting the King to rescue his family and the Princess.]]]]
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** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess... And who set up the Daventry Prince with the Princess of the Green Isles together in the first place? [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Mordack. He kidnapped the princess on Abdul's behalf and also happened to abduct Daventry's royal family, prompting the King to rescue his family and the Princess.]]]]
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** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess... And who set up the Daventry Prince with Princess of the Green Isles together in the first place? [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Mordack. He kidnapped the princess on Abdul's behalf and also happened to abduct Daventry's royal family, prompting the King to rescue them and the princess.]]]]
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** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess... And who set up the Daventry Prince with Princess of the Green Isles together in the first place? [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Mordack. He kidnapped the princess on Abdul's behalf and also happened to abduct Daventry's royal family, prompting the King to rescue them his family and the princess.Princess.]]]]
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** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess...
to:
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess... And who set up the Daventry Prince with Princess of the Green Isles together in the first place? [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder Mordack. He kidnapped the princess on Abdul's behalf and also happened to abduct Daventry's royal family, prompting the King to rescue them and the princess.]]]]
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* In ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'', this role goes to Millenia. The BigBad's plan requires [[spoiler:that all eight pieces of Valmar be absorbed by Millenia so that Valmar's resurrection can be brought about and the BigBad can merge with him.]] What the villain didn't count on was [[spoiler:Millenia refusing to absorb the Horns after they merged with Ryudo, and then sealing them inside Ryudo rather than risk killing him. As a result, not only was Valmar's resurrection incomplete, but Ryudo eventually used the Horns as a weapon to kill the villain.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', Neku points out to a ManipulativeBastard that it is utterly impossible to predict what [[IdiotHero Beat]] is going to do. Heck, if you collect the Secret Report after the end of the game, even [[spoiler:the Angel, Mr. Hanekoma, thought Neku was screwed before Beat's HeelFaceTurn, which was conveniently possible because of his FaceHeelTurn in the first place.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. After his [[TheReveal Reveal]] as TheChessmaster, [[spoiler:Shuji Ikutsuki]] plans to sacrifice most of the party by [[spoiler:forcing RobotGirl Aigis to murder them]] in order to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. He's just about to succeed... but at that point, the player is reminded that he forgot to crucify the dog, too.
** [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo "And I would have gotten away with it, too! If it weren't for you meddling kids and that dog!]]
* ''VideoGame/WhiteKnightChronicles'': You are this for [[spoiler: BiggerBad]] Emperor Madoras. Or, rather, your custom character is. (The game features an incredibly robust character creation system, and it's an unwritten rule amongst the fandom that the avatar be based off of the player.) After sitting back silently during the story mode while (most likely, should you choose to play the game's plethora of side quests that require your avatar) being the most devastating character in combat, you are the only one able to take on Madoras in the game's bonus dungeon.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Every raid dreads the LeeroyJenkins, who can ruin an otherwise carefully arranged plan of attack by charging in headfirst.
** In ''Wrath of the Lich King'', after Drakuru plays you for an UnwittingPawn, you get to do this to his plans repeatedly.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'': [[spoiler:The entire plan of the BigBad, that has taken centuries and all three games to complete, is undone because Allen can take a beating and look really pathetic while it happens. It's more [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] than it sounds.]]
* A much more minor, but hilarious, example comes from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. Ozzie, inept sidekick to the great Magus, was originally defeated by being dropped down a TrapDoor. In his second coming, he's smart enough to make the switches instead drop the ''heroes'' down the trap door. When they come back, Ozzie's ready for anything... except for a not-so-random ''cat'' (if you get the regular ending, Chrono's cat(s) jump into the time portal), which wanders in, flips the wrong switch, and down he goes...
* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', Lujei Piche apparently is stated to have ruined the effort involved [[spoiler:in banishing Sulfur of ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'', sending him back to Ivoire as a BonusBoss.]]
** Revya and Gig, for all the multiple times they are {{Unwitting Pawn}}s during the storyline, also become epic spanners: [[spoiler:The demon path is basically you laying waste to the entire GambitPileup: Virtious, Thuris, Dio, Rashka and all the other manipulators' year-long plans are ruined by one free-roaming OmnicidalManiac doing it ForTheEvulz.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' offers a minor example in the Dark Elf. A monster who messed up Golbez's plans to steal the Earth Crystal from Troia by snatching it first and running off to a cave where he rendered metal weapons unusable. Golbez [[XanatosSpeedChess works around this]] by sending protagonist Cecil to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService fetch the crystal]] in exchange for [[DamselInDistress Rosa]].
* Believe it or not, Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' fits this role very well. While he appears to be simply a throwaway character, he is the only one besides [[spoiler:Ashe]] to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks]]. This implies that [[spoiler:the Occuria]] felt that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to [[spoiler:become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge, should Ashe falter]], probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model for [[spoiler:Ashe]], as seen when he refuses to take revenge on [[spoiler:Gabranth]] for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push she needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
* It's not so easy to see because he's a minor villain, but the [[FinalFantasyI Dark Elf King Astos]] has been at his plot for years, then the Warriors of Light come out of nowhere, on a completely unrelated quest, and straight up murder him. And while it might seem like Astos spanned his own plot, his theory was that the artifacts he tricked the Warriors of Light into getting him would make him all-powerful, so revealing himself isn't stupid so much as GenreBlindness.
** [[DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]] also retcons it that just one Warrior of Light, who is a [[spoiler: Manikin]]. This guy is such a spanner that he manages to bring down plots in two worlds without even knowing his own name, let alone his ridiculously complicated origin story.
* [[HeroicWannabe Ash DragonBlade's]] story in ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' from Creator/ArtixEntertainment consists of Ash foiling the plots of would be [[BigBad Big Bads]] through his own sheer stupidity.
* In ''[[VideoGame/LaPucelle La Pucelle Tactics]]'' the plans of both Noir and [[spoiler:the spirit infecting Croix]] are foiled not by the Maiden of Light, but by Priere, a newbie priestess who is perhaps the least likely person you'd expect being a nun, though she has a mean right hook and an even meaner set of legs.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesEchoesOfTime'', [[spoiler:Larkeicus [[HoistByHisOwnPetard does this to ''his own'' plan]]. He builds a tower to reach the point in the sky where the hero's going to cause the crystals 2000 years ago to vanish, and [[CrazyPrepared prepares for every possible outcome]], [[XanatosGambit including his own defeat]]. Too bad he forgot to consider how the hero would get that high up in the first place.]]
* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'', this can easily happen to the player if (s)he gets careless. Even the lowest of the agents of justice can become this if you neglect to pay attention.
* Ditto ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''; the tiniest breach in your defenses (like a [[http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Update%201-20/ monarch butterfly flying into the main door and jamming it open]]) can lead to goblins cutting a swath through your dining hall, or a fortress-wide tantrum-spiral.
* [[spoiler:General Shepherd]] didn't expect one thing in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 2]]''. [[spoiler:SAS Captain John Price. Price firing the nuke at Washington caused Shepherd to resort to some XanatosSpeedChess and move up his timetable for TF 141's disposal, but Price's willingness to [[EnemyMine co-operate with Makarov]] pushed him on to the defensive and gave him a [[EyeScream knife through the eye]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'', the cunning plan created by [[spoiler:Vader and Palpatine]] fell apart due to one bit of (bad) luck and one unforeseen relationship. The accidental [[spoiler:wiping of PROXY's primary programming]] resulted in a HeroicSacrifice [[spoiler:when Vader tried to kill Starkiller]], and the emotional connection between Juno and Starkiller meant she came back and [[spoiler:rescued him after Vader's failed attempt to kill him. Starkiller himself then became the spanner when he went after Vader and Palpatine, saving the rebel leaders. The end result is that Palpatine and Vader ended up creating the Rebellion that eventually defeated the Empire. Oops.]]
* The Alien protagonist in ''[[AlienVsPredator Aliens vs. Predator 2]]''.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an OminousRingOfLand, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
** Actually the better example is how a pair of excavators accidentally awaken Grey, [[spoiler:Master Albert's back-up body]]. After witnessing what Model W can do, Grey ends up saying no to Master Albert's plan and becomes instrumental in his downfall. Ashe also counts since in her storyline, she encounters Model A by accident and singlehandedly ruins Albert's plan as well.
*** Albert even notes that her appearing was entirely unpredicted, and the amount of trouble she caused for him surprised most people directly involved.
* Sora and Co. from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' have an innate ability to utterly ruin the [[GambitPileup numerous complicated plans]] that people form around them without having the slightest clue of what's really going on.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - While [[MagnificentBastard the Spy's]] entire ''job'' is to be the Spanner in the enemy team's works, random chance tends to play this role in otherwise evenly matched teams, as nobody can account for that stray lucky critical hit.
** And then there are the {{Griefer}}s, who ''purposely sabotage their own team's objectives'' ForTheEvulz.
* The protagonists of ''Franchise/SilentHill'' tend to be played for {{Unwitting Pawn}}s --but they will also send the bad guys plans spiraling into complete disaster because their goals don't involve unleashing an EldritchAbomination on the world.
* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon Fear 2: Project Origin]]'' has this happen to the player instead of the villain. Terry Halford comes up with a [[AppliedPhlebotinum telesthetic amplifier]] that could give the player character, Sergeant Beckett, a decent chance at [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind exploding Alma's head]], and then [[spoiler:Genevieve Aristide waltzes in, shoots any dissenting voices, and changes the amplifier's settings in an attempt to [[SealedEvilInACan trap Alma]]. Note that Halford, who has a far better grasp of the math and science of the amplifier, has already stated very emphatically that Aristide's plan simply will not work and Aristide is essentially a desperate idiot trying to make reality conform to her wishes. Her pitiful attempts only make Alma stronger, at [[MindRape your expense]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the player character skews the [[GambitPileup very, very delicate power balance of Los Angeles]] simply by being Embraced. That's about the only time things are ''not'' going according to someone's plan, though, and is directly followed by XanatosSpeedChess on the part of Jack, [=LaCroix=] and [[spoiler: Caine]], rather than a VillainousBreakdown on anyone's part. [[spoiler: In the endgame, it is impossible for you to be one, because [[XanatosGambit whatever you do, LaCroix is toast for one reason or another]].]]
* VideoGame/KingsQuest:
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess...
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'': Malicia has kidnapped the Fairy Prince Edgar and the Troll King of the Volcanix Underground, then transformed and brainwashed the former to impersonate the latter and cause a volcanic explosion that will destroy the Fairy Kingdom of Etheria. But she didn't realize that her new accomplice harbored feelings for a certain Princess of Daventry and that his now morally deficient state would cause him to kidnap ''her'', causing her mother to chase after her... and things kind of fell apart after that.
* Speaking of Sierra, the Hero in the ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series tends to be this at times as well, either by intent or accident. Basically all of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' was a result of the teleport spell used to snatch him at the end of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'' dumping him in the wrong place in Mordavia.
* Sierra loved this one, because much of SpaceQuest ran on this as well. Roger Wilco had just the good (or bad) luck to send the best laid plans careening into a cliff.
** The first game? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
** The second game? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
** Third game? Roger was just good enough at Astro-Chicken and just bored enough to find and investigate the secret message from Pug's captive programmers.
** Fourth game? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** Fifth game? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** Sixth game: Stellar the the spanner. Sharpei wanted to commit GrandTheftMe on Roger, figuring he wouldn't be missed. But Stellar steps in at the last minute, makes a HeroicSacrifice, and Roger decides he's going to rescue his pal. Sharpei and her plan did not survive.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem''
** ''Fire Emblem 7'' has [[spoiler: Kishuna]] and [[spoiler: Hector]]. The first one ruins a SmugSnake magic user's trap for the heroes [[spoiler: via his AntiMagic powers]], the second is such a strong support for Eliwood that [[spoiler: Nergal]] has to admit that his mere presence throws his gambits around Eliwood off.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'', [[spoiler: Manfroy's StalkerWithATestTube plan to have the perfect SoulJar for EvilGod Lopto]] ''did'' work… but was thrown off by [[spoiler: how the mother of said SoulJar gave birth to ''twins''... and the sister of the SoulJar actually had the [[HeroicLineage Sacred Blood]] needed to handle the perfect weapon to ''vanquish Lopto away''. And then the girl was spirited away by her dying mother and later was "adopted" by LaResistance…]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', one of these appeared in the backstory. [[spoiler: The Grimleal aka the local ReligionOfEvil has carried a SuperBreedingProgram for at least four generations, trying to have a baby conceived with enough Grima blood in him/her to make him/her the perfect host for Grima, the EvilGod of the story. They didn't count, however, on the mother of the last baby ''and'' most perfected Grima prospect vessel [[DeliverUsFromEvil actually changing her mind]] [[MamaBear and running away with her son/daughter]] rather than allowing his/her father, EvilSorceror Validar, use the baby for such deals.]] Thanks to this, [[spoiler: the prospect vessel grew away from the ReligionOfEvil... and became [[PlayerCharacter the Avatar]] aka ''the Protagonist of the game''.]]
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' had ''such'' a good plan going until [[spoiler:Phantom woke Ethan up early]]. Then [[spoiler:Ethan]] just happened to run into an UnwittingPawn and warned him not to trust an agent of said BigBad. Things kinda fell apart from there.
* This is basically all [[PlayerCharacter the Boss]] does in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2''. The Brotherhood originally planned on bringing in a shipment of weapons to take over the city with. Boom, the Boss steals it all. Then they try to manipulate their friends out of jail. The Boss just kills all of them when they get out. The Sons of Samedi see their plans to sell drugs ruined by the Boss when he kills all their dealers, and when a lieutenant tries to trick the Boss into walking into traps, the Boss kills them too. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Vogel]], meanwhile, planned to manipulate everybody into killing each other so he could take his place at the top, which worked fantastically when he was getting the Boss to kill people instead of getting people to kill the Boss.
* Raphael Sorel, the French fencer from ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur II]]'', unintentionally saved the world and Siegfried (here in his [[BrainwashedAndCrazy guise]] as the BigBad, Nightmare). Raphael appears as Nightmare's opponent in his Destined Battle. When Nightmare defeats Raphael and is about to finish him off, Siegfried is somehow roused out of his suppression by [[EvilWeapon Soul]] [[ArtifactOfDoom Edge]][=/=][[AnthropomorphicPersonification Inferno]] and begins a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, rendering his body immobile. Seizing the opportunity at hand, the injured Raphael takes his [[RoyalRapier rapier]] and delivers a mighty thrust to [[EyesDoNotBelongThere Soul Edge's eye]], weakening the soul of the sword and allowing Siegfried to fully regain control of his body. At that point, the holy sword Soul Calibur appears to aid Siegfried, who then plunges it through the evil sword ''again''. This causes both swords to fall silent (having been locked into a state that rendered both dormant), setting up the plot of ''III'' and Siegfried's character progression to that of TheAtoner. Raphael's reward? He gets [[TheCorruption infected by Soul Edge's malevolent influence]] (he unwillingly passes this on to his adoptive daughter Amy as well, when she tends to his wounds) and becomes some sort of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]].
* In ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars 2]]'', despite Andy having a spanner himself, [[spoiler: It's Hawke's turn against Sturm that really destroys his plans.]]
* In the chapter 1 finale of ''VideoGame/DragonFable'', the BigBad is undone by two spanners. [[spoiler:The Bacon Elemental Orb (which no one but Cysero knew even existed until that moment) combined with Cysero's time machine]] gives the hero and his dragon a fighting chance in the FinalBattle. Just when it seems like even that wouldn't be enough to save the day, [[spoiler:the villain's host body Fluffy reveals his [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] to the hero and his dragon.]]
* ''VideoGame/GrimGrimoire'' has the TheArchmage preparing to break free from his SoulJar and take the philosopher's stone and menace the world, and powerful devil he entered a pact with named Grimlet is about ready to break from being sealed inside the old wizard Gammel Dore. Neither of them could possibly predict that both of their plans would screwed up by one CuteWitch named Lillet Blann caught in GroundhogDayLoop.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'':
** Assuming the player never discovers [[spoiler:the Dossier revealing the Thalmor's role in the civil war]], the Dragonborn can become this for [[spoiler:the Thalmor]], who are running a long scheme to weaken their enemies by goading Ulfric Stormcloak into rebelling against the Empire and making sure the civil war goes on for as long as possible to drain both sides' strength. The Dragonborn can end the war with one of two outcomes, both of which are bad news for [[spoiler:the Thalmor]].
** In the Dark Brotherhood (Assassin's Guild) Questline, the Dragonborn can also be this for Astrid. The Dragonborn is the Dark Mother's unwitting chosen one, which screws over Astrid's position as the "family don."
** And the Ebony Blade was locked safely away in Whiterun, from champions who would be tempted into killing their loved ones and confidants to empower a stupid sword and go homicidally insane... until the Jarl's son became a talkative ass from the sword spirit's rumors. The Dragonborn figures out how to steal the sword thanks to the boy blabbing about the "woman behind the door."
* As of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlue BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend]]'', Terumi's master {{gambit pileup}} for his goals remained untouched up until [[spoiler:Makoto Nanaya fell into one particular timeline by accident and interfered with events key to his schemes - the end result being utter annulment of all of his plans in that timeline, and she got away with it with help from Rachel Alucard. As a result, from ''Continuum Shift'' proper onward, Terumi's plans for Makoto have changed from "keep away from Tsubaki and Noel" to "outsource to Relius or kill on sight".]]
** This is actually a {{reconstruct|edTrope}}ion. [[spoiler:Makoto's Spanner status comes from the fact that she never knew Noel never existed in this timeline up until Terumi's plans had already fallen apart. Other than that, she had proven through the entire story that she was capable of picking up on the world around her and using the intel she accumulated to formulate and rebuild her plans on a whim - one slip of the tongue by Terumi was enough for her to, with help from Bang's keen-eyed disciple, figure out that Relius was luring her into a trap and adjusted her plans just enough to defuse the problem and keep at work. Had she known about that missing fact any time before she ran into Tsubaki, she could have {{outgambitted}} Terumi instead.]]
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'', The Fateless One is this to everyone and everything because he/she is ImmuneToFate. Furthermore, since he/she was a BlankSlate with no memories upon revival it's impossible to predict just how he/she will react in any given situation. Everyone who tries to manipulate the Fateless One for their own evil plans fails miserably. [[spoiler:Even Tirnoch, the being that allowed the Fateless One to exist in the first place, underestimates what she created and pays for it with her life.]]
* The evil scheme of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' goes off the rails the moment [[spoiler: Ghetsis's LaserGuidedTykebomb N discovers that {{humans|AreTheRealMonsters}} ''[[AvertedTrope aren't]]'' [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters bastards]], shaking his worldview and forcing him to reevaluate his cause]], purely by encountering the player character in the second town.
** In a way, this trope can apply to the other protagonists of the Pokemon main games themselves. The villainous team's plans basically get ruined because of a person from a small town began their journey at the same time they launch their plans.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'', Max was the perfect UnwittingPawn. A dumb gringo who'd been steered into making many enemies, he would be hopelessly lost at best, soon dead at worst. Unfortunately for the villains, good cop Da Silva showed up and gave him direction, and their plans started falling apart soon afterwards.
* In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' the Main Character can be this for [[spoiler: Yamato and/or Polaris]] by choosing another faction when [[spoiler: Yamato probably would have won if not for the Main Character's interference]] and possibly [[spoiler: convince Alcor to help kill Polaris and end Polaris' system]].
* In ''VideoGame/DawnOfTheDragons'', the dragons' long-running scheme to reconquer the world is derailed by two spanners. The first is a crazy wizard who wakes them up too early because he wanted to use them in his own scheme for world conquest. The second is the player character, an ordinary farmhand who frees an unborn dragon from his evil parents' influence and assembles an army alongside the newborn.
* The modern day ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games seem to have given Dr. Eggman these moments as he'd be close to victory, then something happens that turns everything on its head. For ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', it's Chaos not taking Eggman's crap anymore. For ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', it's that the Eclipse Cannon had a Doomsday Protocol that activated when all the Chaos Emeralds are gathered in it.
* ''[[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]]'': The F-Con CEO had been planning his takeover of Encom and invasion of {{cyberspace}} with Datawraith mercenaries for ''twenty years.'' (It's impled he was Edward Dillinger from [[{{Film/Tron}} the first film]], out for payback after being forced out of Encom in disgrace). Things would have gone swimmingly...if Alan Bradley hadn't been arguing with his son [[SpinOffspring Jethro]] at the time F-con's thugs burst in the room and kidnapped him, and if Jethro hadn't been standing in just the right spot for Ma3a to kidnap ''him'' via Shiva laser.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'', Duminuss' plan was that ''real'' close to break up the spirit of EFA. First, it got ahold of Lamia and brainwashed her to the point of no return and would make her blow herself up to rub the fact that Kyosuke cannot fulfill his promise to her. That failed and later on Lamia managed to return to EFA, good as new. How? Apparently Duminuss failed to notice that that Axel [[BackFromTheDead just took a U-Turn from his journey to hell]], and [[HeelFaceTurn has an adjustment]] [[GracefulLoser in personality]] and, being another last survivor of Shadow Mirror, he just happens to have the one thing that could reset Lamia and undo all of Duminuss' machinations, and just in case Kyosuke does not break into a world-destroying maniac out of despair (it happened in his world), Axel uses that thing pronto.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', the protagonist spoils Bhaal's planned resurrection as well as all the plans of three other {{Big Bad}}s simply by surviving against all odds, and growing from a nobody orphan to one of the most powerful beings in the Forgotten Realms in the process. Late in ''Throne of Bhaal'', the Solar reveals that the protagonist being the spanner in Bhaal's works has been predicted by Alaundo's prophecy.
* In ''VideoGame/CastleRed'', the BigBad, [[spoiler: Howard]], when confronted with the upcoming Trial of the Worm, set things up so that none of the other participants would even know about the Trial, allowing him to toy with them for his own amusement without risking [[spoiler: losing his status as Lord.]] However, the first step of this plan was to [[ParasiteZombie infest all the castle's servants with worms]], but he never expected that [[spoiler: one of the servants, the maid Margaery, would be strong enough to bond with the worms and retain her sentience. This meant that there was now, unbeknownst to him, someone else in the castle who knew about the trial, knew what he really was, and who also had a vendetta against him. Once he realizes that Margaery exists and has already made contact with the other participants, he is forced to change his plans, eventually exposing himself as Lord, leading to his death at Jonathon's hands in half the endings.]]
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* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', Neku points out to a ManipulativeBastard that it is utterly impossible to predict what [[IdiotHero Beat]] is going to do. Heck, if you collect the Secret Report after the end of the game, even [[spoiler:the Angel, Mr. Hanekoma, thought Neku was screwed before Beat's HeelFaceTurn, which was conveniently possible because of his FaceHeelTurn in the first place.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. After his [[TheReveal Reveal]] as TheChessmaster, [[spoiler:Shuji Ikutsuki]] plans to sacrifice most of the party by [[spoiler:forcing RobotGirl Aigis to murder them]] in order to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. He's just about to succeed... but at that point, the player is reminded that he forgot to crucify the dog, too.
** [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo "And I would have gotten away with it, too! If it weren't for you meddling kids and that dog!]]
* ''VideoGame/WhiteKnightChronicles'': You are this for [[spoiler: BiggerBad]] Emperor Madoras. Or, rather, your custom character is. (The game features an incredibly robust character creation system, and it's an unwritten rule amongst the fandom that the avatar be based off of the player.) After sitting back silently during the story mode while (most likely, should you choose to play the game's plethora of side quests that require your avatar) being the most devastating character in combat, you are the only one able to take on Madoras in the game's bonus dungeon.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Every raid dreads the LeeroyJenkins, who can ruin an otherwise carefully arranged plan of attack by charging in headfirst.
** In ''Wrath of the Lich King'', after Drakuru plays you for an UnwittingPawn, you get to do this to his plans repeatedly.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'': [[spoiler:The entire plan of the BigBad, that has taken centuries and all three games to complete, is undone because Allen can take a beating and look really pathetic while it happens. It's more [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] than it sounds.]]
* A much more minor, but hilarious, example comes from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. Ozzie, inept sidekick to the great Magus, was originally defeated by being dropped down a TrapDoor. In his second coming, he's smart enough to make the switches instead drop the ''heroes'' down the trap door. When they come back, Ozzie's ready for anything... except for a not-so-random ''cat'' (if you get the regular ending, Chrono's cat(s) jump into the time portal), which wanders in, flips the wrong switch, and down he goes...
* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', Lujei Piche apparently is stated to have ruined the effort involved [[spoiler:in banishing Sulfur of ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'', sending him back to Ivoire as a BonusBoss.]]
** Revya and Gig, for all the multiple times they are {{Unwitting Pawn}}s during the storyline, also become epic spanners: [[spoiler:The demon path is basically you laying waste to the entire GambitPileup: Virtious, Thuris, Dio, Rashka and all the other manipulators' year-long plans are ruined by one free-roaming OmnicidalManiac doing it ForTheEvulz.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' offers a minor example in the Dark Elf. A monster who messed up Golbez's plans to steal the Earth Crystal from Troia by snatching it first and running off to a cave where he rendered metal weapons unusable. Golbez [[XanatosSpeedChess works around this]] by sending protagonist Cecil to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService fetch the crystal]] in exchange for [[DamselInDistress Rosa]].
* Believe it or not, Vaan from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' fits this role very well. While he appears to be simply a throwaway character, he is the only one besides [[spoiler:Ashe]] to [[spoiler:see a loved one's image projected by the Occuria, in this case, his brother Reks]]. This implies that [[spoiler:the Occuria]] felt that he would be a suitable and effective 'Plan B' to [[spoiler:become the weapon which would destroy the Archadian Empire in revenge, should Ashe falter]], probably due to his being both Dalmascan, and for, at the start of the game, harbouring resentment towards Archadia for the death of his brother. Instead, Vaan actually overcomes [[spoiler:the illusions much more quickly than Ashe]], ultimately providing a more virtuous role model for [[spoiler:Ashe]], as seen when he refuses to take revenge on [[spoiler:Gabranth]] for killing his brother. [[FridgeBrilliance He may just have been the push she needed to reject revenge at the story's climax]].
* It's not so easy to see because he's a minor villain, but the [[FinalFantasyI Dark Elf King Astos]] has been at his plot for years, then the Warriors of Light come out of nowhere, on a completely unrelated quest, and straight up murder him. And while it might seem like Astos spanned his own plot, his theory was that the artifacts he tricked the Warriors of Light into getting him would make him all-powerful, so revealing himself isn't stupid so much as GenreBlindness.
** [[DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]] also retcons it that just one Warrior of Light, who is a [[spoiler: Manikin]]. This guy is such a spanner that he manages to bring down plots in two worlds without even knowing his own name, let alone his ridiculously complicated origin story.
* [[HeroicWannabe Ash DragonBlade's]] story in ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' from Creator/ArtixEntertainment consists of Ash foiling the plots of would be [[BigBad Big Bads]] through his own sheer stupidity.
* In ''[[VideoGame/LaPucelle La Pucelle Tactics]]'' the plans of both Noir and [[spoiler:the spirit infecting Croix]] are foiled not by the Maiden of Light, but by Priere, a newbie priestess who is perhaps the least likely person you'd expect being a nun, though she has a mean right hook and an even meaner set of legs.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesEchoesOfTime'', [[spoiler:Larkeicus [[HoistByHisOwnPetard does this to ''his own'' plan]]. He builds a tower to reach the point in the sky where the hero's going to cause the crystals 2000 years ago to vanish, and [[CrazyPrepared prepares for every possible outcome]], [[XanatosGambit including his own defeat]]. Too bad he forgot to consider how the hero would get that high up in the first place.]]
* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'', this can easily happen to the player if (s)he gets careless. Even the lowest of the agents of justice can become this if you neglect to pay attention.
* Ditto ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''; the tiniest breach in your defenses (like a [[http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Update%201-20/ monarch butterfly flying into the main door and jamming it open]]) can lead to goblins cutting a swath through your dining hall, or a fortress-wide tantrum-spiral.
* [[spoiler:General Shepherd]] didn't expect one thing in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 2]]''. [[spoiler:SAS Captain John Price. Price firing the nuke at Washington caused Shepherd to resort to some XanatosSpeedChess and move up his timetable for TF 141's disposal, but Price's willingness to [[EnemyMine co-operate with Makarov]] pushed him on to the defensive and gave him a [[EyeScream knife through the eye]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'', the cunning plan created by [[spoiler:Vader and Palpatine]] fell apart due to one bit of (bad) luck and one unforeseen relationship. The accidental [[spoiler:wiping of PROXY's primary programming]] resulted in a HeroicSacrifice [[spoiler:when Vader tried to kill Starkiller]], and the emotional connection between Juno and Starkiller meant she came back and [[spoiler:rescued him after Vader's failed attempt to kill him. Starkiller himself then became the spanner when he went after Vader and Palpatine, saving the rebel leaders. The end result is that Palpatine and Vader ended up creating the Rebellion that eventually defeated the Empire. Oops.]]
* The Alien protagonist in ''[[AlienVsPredator Aliens vs. Predator 2]]''.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', the cornerstone of Master Albert's plan to [[AGodAmI become a god]] involved gathering the world's Model Ws and combine them into Ouroboros. However, aside from shitting out Mavericks like an OminousRingOfLand, it has no way to prevent an airship from crashing into it and inserting a war party intent on shutting him down. If he had a few more Model Ws, he could have sprung for mounted anti-air... too bad the Guardians (and Mega Man Model ZX) got to them first (and subsequently destroyed them). The thing to note is that this is a Spanner entry because Albert's plan would have been more complete had they not been destroyed; everything else went [[MemeticMutation just as planned]].
** Actually the better example is how a pair of excavators accidentally awaken Grey, [[spoiler:Master Albert's back-up body]]. After witnessing what Model W can do, Grey ends up saying no to Master Albert's plan and becomes instrumental in his downfall. Ashe also counts since in her storyline, she encounters Model A by accident and singlehandedly ruins Albert's plan as well.
*** Albert even notes that her appearing was entirely unpredicted, and the amount of trouble she caused for him surprised most people directly involved.
* Sora and Co. from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' have an innate ability to utterly ruin the [[GambitPileup numerous complicated plans]] that people form around them without having the slightest clue of what's really going on.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - While [[MagnificentBastard the Spy's]] entire ''job'' is to be the Spanner in the enemy team's works, random chance tends to play this role in otherwise evenly matched teams, as nobody can account for that stray lucky critical hit.
** And then there are the {{Griefer}}s, who ''purposely sabotage their own team's objectives'' ForTheEvulz.
* The protagonists of ''Franchise/SilentHill'' tend to be played for {{Unwitting Pawn}}s --but they will also send the bad guys plans spiraling into complete disaster because their goals don't involve unleashing an EldritchAbomination on the world.
* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon Fear 2: Project Origin]]'' has this happen to the player instead of the villain. Terry Halford comes up with a [[AppliedPhlebotinum telesthetic amplifier]] that could give the player character, Sergeant Beckett, a decent chance at [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind exploding Alma's head]], and then [[spoiler:Genevieve Aristide waltzes in, shoots any dissenting voices, and changes the amplifier's settings in an attempt to [[SealedEvilInACan trap Alma]]. Note that Halford, who has a far better grasp of the math and science of the amplifier, has already stated very emphatically that Aristide's plan simply will not work and Aristide is essentially a desperate idiot trying to make reality conform to her wishes. Her pitiful attempts only make Alma stronger, at [[MindRape your expense]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the player character skews the [[GambitPileup very, very delicate power balance of Los Angeles]] simply by being Embraced. That's about the only time things are ''not'' going according to someone's plan, though, and is directly followed by XanatosSpeedChess on the part of Jack, [=LaCroix=] and [[spoiler: Caine]], rather than a VillainousBreakdown on anyone's part. [[spoiler: In the endgame, it is impossible for you to be one, because [[XanatosGambit whatever you do, LaCroix is toast for one reason or another]].]]
* VideoGame/KingsQuest:
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'': [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] Abdul Alhazred has been running an EvilPlan very successfully on the Land of the Green Isles. Gain the trust of the king and queen and their approval to marry the princess [[spoiler: then arrange the kidnapping of the princess and kill the king and queen]], making sure he's in charge. Spread rumors and encourage in-fighting among the islands to bring the kingdom to the brink of civil war [[spoiler: after stealing their sacred treasures yourself and crippling the only non-magical means of transport so they can't visit each other and check]]. As the final piece, arrange a grand [[spoiler: sham]] wedding to the princess [[spoiler: and kill her after the wedding night]]. It's running like clockwork, and then the Prince of Daventry shows up with a mad crush on the princess...
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'': Malicia has kidnapped the Fairy Prince Edgar and the Troll King of the Volcanix Underground, then transformed and brainwashed the former to impersonate the latter and cause a volcanic explosion that will destroy the Fairy Kingdom of Etheria. But she didn't realize that her new accomplice harbored feelings for a certain Princess of Daventry and that his now morally deficient state would cause him to kidnap ''her'', causing her mother to chase after her... and things kind of fell apart after that.
* Speaking of Sierra, the Hero in the ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series tends to be this at times as well, either by intent or accident. Basically all of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' was a result of the teleport spell used to snatch him at the end of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'' dumping him in the wrong place in Mordavia.
* Sierra loved this one, because much of SpaceQuest ran on this as well. Roger Wilco had just the good (or bad) luck to send the best laid plans careening into a cliff.
** The first game? The Sarians had boarded the ''Arcada'', stolen the Star Generator, and slaughtered all of the crew...except Roger, who had been taking an unscheduled nap in the broom closet.
** The second game? Vohaul had his cloned army (granted, they were an army of insurance salesmen) ready for launch, but having his {{Mook}}s sent to kill Roger in an attempt to ''[[DangerouslyGenreSavvy prevent him]]'' from stopping it (after all, Vohaul bankrolled the Sariens), led to Roger showing up and [[NiceJobFixingItVillain wrecking the plan anyway]].
** Third game? Roger was just good enough at Astro-Chicken and just bored enough to find and investigate the secret message from Pug's captive programmers.
** Fourth game? Once again, Vohaul tries to pre-emtively kill Roger from screwing up the plan. But the timely arrival of Xenon's time-traveling LaResistance sends that into a tailspin.
** Fifth game? Captain Quirk was above suspicion, captain of the Confederation flagship. No one was going to investigate some toxic waste dumps on a few backwater planets. They all but laughed the ambassador representing those backwaters out of the room when she tried to call attention to the problem. But then a mouse chews up some wires in the academy computer, Roger gets accidentally promoted to Captain, and guess who finds out about Quirk's lucrative side business in transporting tetragenic sludge?
** Sixth game: Stellar the the spanner. Sharpei wanted to commit GrandTheftMe on Roger, figuring he wouldn't be missed. But Stellar steps in at the last minute, makes a HeroicSacrifice, and Roger decides he's going to rescue his pal. Sharpei and her plan did not survive.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem''
** ''Fire Emblem 7'' has [[spoiler: Kishuna]] and [[spoiler: Hector]]. The first one ruins a SmugSnake magic user's trap for the heroes [[spoiler: via his AntiMagic powers]], the second is such a strong support for Eliwood that [[spoiler: Nergal]] has to admit that his mere presence throws his gambits around Eliwood off.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'', [[spoiler: Manfroy's StalkerWithATestTube plan to have the perfect SoulJar for EvilGod Lopto]] ''did'' work… but was thrown off by [[spoiler: how the mother of said SoulJar gave birth to ''twins''... and the sister of the SoulJar actually had the [[HeroicLineage Sacred Blood]] needed to handle the perfect weapon to ''vanquish Lopto away''. And then the girl was spirited away by her dying mother and later was "adopted" by LaResistance…]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', one of these appeared in the backstory. [[spoiler: The Grimleal aka the local ReligionOfEvil has carried a SuperBreedingProgram for at least four generations, trying to have a baby conceived with enough Grima blood in him/her to make him/her the perfect host for Grima, the EvilGod of the story. They didn't count, however, on the mother of the last baby ''and'' most perfected Grima prospect vessel [[DeliverUsFromEvil actually changing her mind]] [[MamaBear and running away with her son/daughter]] rather than allowing his/her father, EvilSorceror Validar, use the baby for such deals.]] Thanks to this, [[spoiler: the prospect vessel grew away from the ReligionOfEvil... and became [[PlayerCharacter the Avatar]] aka ''the Protagonist of the game''.]]
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' had ''such'' a good plan going until [[spoiler:Phantom woke Ethan up early]]. Then [[spoiler:Ethan]] just happened to run into an UnwittingPawn and warned him not to trust an agent of said BigBad. Things kinda fell apart from there.
* This is basically all [[PlayerCharacter the Boss]] does in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2''. The Brotherhood originally planned on bringing in a shipment of weapons to take over the city with. Boom, the Boss steals it all. Then they try to manipulate their friends out of jail. The Boss just kills all of them when they get out. The Sons of Samedi see their plans to sell drugs ruined by the Boss when he kills all their dealers, and when a lieutenant tries to trick the Boss into walking into traps, the Boss kills them too. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Vogel]], meanwhile, planned to manipulate everybody into killing each other so he could take his place at the top, which worked fantastically when he was getting the Boss to kill people instead of getting people to kill the Boss.
* Raphael Sorel, the French fencer from ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur II]]'', unintentionally saved the world and Siegfried (here in his [[BrainwashedAndCrazy guise]] as the BigBad, Nightmare). Raphael appears as Nightmare's opponent in his Destined Battle. When Nightmare defeats Raphael and is about to finish him off, Siegfried is somehow roused out of his suppression by [[EvilWeapon Soul]] [[ArtifactOfDoom Edge]][=/=][[AnthropomorphicPersonification Inferno]] and begins a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, rendering his body immobile. Seizing the opportunity at hand, the injured Raphael takes his [[RoyalRapier rapier]] and delivers a mighty thrust to [[EyesDoNotBelongThere Soul Edge's eye]], weakening the soul of the sword and allowing Siegfried to fully regain control of his body. At that point, the holy sword Soul Calibur appears to aid Siegfried, who then plunges it through the evil sword ''again''. This causes both swords to fall silent (having been locked into a state that rendered both dormant), setting up the plot of ''III'' and Siegfried's character progression to that of TheAtoner. Raphael's reward? He gets [[TheCorruption infected by Soul Edge's malevolent influence]] (he unwillingly passes this on to his adoptive daughter Amy as well, when she tends to his wounds) and becomes some sort of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]].
* In ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars 2]]'', despite Andy having a spanner himself, [[spoiler: It's Hawke's turn against Sturm that really destroys his plans.]]
* In the chapter 1 finale of ''VideoGame/DragonFable'', the BigBad is undone by two spanners. [[spoiler:The Bacon Elemental Orb (which no one but Cysero knew even existed until that moment) combined with Cysero's time machine]] gives the hero and his dragon a fighting chance in the FinalBattle. Just when it seems like even that wouldn't be enough to save the day, [[spoiler:the villain's host body Fluffy reveals his [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] to the hero and his dragon.]]
* ''VideoGame/GrimGrimoire'' has the TheArchmage preparing to break free from his SoulJar and take the philosopher's stone and menace the world, and powerful devil he entered a pact with named Grimlet is about ready to break from being sealed inside the old wizard Gammel Dore. Neither of them could possibly predict that both of their plans would screwed up by one CuteWitch named Lillet Blann caught in GroundhogDayLoop.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'':
** Assuming the player never discovers [[spoiler:the Dossier revealing the Thalmor's role in the civil war]], the Dragonborn can become this for [[spoiler:the Thalmor]], who are running a long scheme to weaken their enemies by goading Ulfric Stormcloak into rebelling against the Empire and making sure the civil war goes on for as long as possible to drain both sides' strength. The Dragonborn can end the war with one of two outcomes, both of which are bad news for [[spoiler:the Thalmor]].
** In the Dark Brotherhood (Assassin's Guild) Questline, the Dragonborn can also be this for Astrid. The Dragonborn is the Dark Mother's unwitting chosen one, which screws over Astrid's position as the "family don."
** And the Ebony Blade was locked safely away in Whiterun, from champions who would be tempted into killing their loved ones and confidants to empower a stupid sword and go homicidally insane... until the Jarl's son became a talkative ass from the sword spirit's rumors. The Dragonborn figures out how to steal the sword thanks to the boy blabbing about the "woman behind the door."
* As of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlue BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend]]'', Terumi's master {{gambit pileup}} for his goals remained untouched up until [[spoiler:Makoto Nanaya fell into one particular timeline by accident and interfered with events key to his schemes - the end result being utter annulment of all of his plans in that timeline, and she got away with it with help from Rachel Alucard. As a result, from ''Continuum Shift'' proper onward, Terumi's plans for Makoto have changed from "keep away from Tsubaki and Noel" to "outsource to Relius or kill on sight".]]
** This is actually a {{reconstruct|edTrope}}ion. [[spoiler:Makoto's Spanner status comes from the fact that she never knew Noel never existed in this timeline up until Terumi's plans had already fallen apart. Other than that, she had proven through the entire story that she was capable of picking up on the world around her and using the intel she accumulated to formulate and rebuild her plans on a whim - one slip of the tongue by Terumi was enough for her to, with help from Bang's keen-eyed disciple, figure out that Relius was luring her into a trap and adjusted her plans just enough to defuse the problem and keep at work. Had she known about that missing fact any time before she ran into Tsubaki, she could have {{outgambitted}} Terumi instead.]]
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'', The Fateless One is this to everyone and everything because he/she is ImmuneToFate. Furthermore, since he/she was a BlankSlate with no memories upon revival it's impossible to predict just how he/she will react in any given situation. Everyone who tries to manipulate the Fateless One for their own evil plans fails miserably. [[spoiler:Even Tirnoch, the being that allowed the Fateless One to exist in the first place, underestimates what she created and pays for it with her life.]]
* The evil scheme of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' goes off the rails the moment [[spoiler: Ghetsis's LaserGuidedTykebomb N discovers that {{humans|AreTheRealMonsters}} ''[[AvertedTrope aren't]]'' [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters bastards]], shaking his worldview and forcing him to reevaluate his cause]], purely by encountering the player character in the second town.
** In a way, this trope can apply to the other protagonists of the Pokemon main games themselves. The villainous team's plans basically get ruined because of a person from a small town began their journey at the same time they launch their plans.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'', Max was the perfect UnwittingPawn. A dumb gringo who'd been steered into making many enemies, he would be hopelessly lost at best, soon dead at worst. Unfortunately for the villains, good cop Da Silva showed up and gave him direction, and their plans started falling apart soon afterwards.
* In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' the Main Character can be this for [[spoiler: Yamato and/or Polaris]] by choosing another faction when [[spoiler: Yamato probably would have won if not for the Main Character's interference]] and possibly [[spoiler: convince Alcor to help kill Polaris and end Polaris' system]].
* In ''VideoGame/DawnOfTheDragons'', the dragons' long-running scheme to reconquer the world is derailed by two spanners. The first is a crazy wizard who wakes them up too early because he wanted to use them in his own scheme for world conquest. The second is the player character, an ordinary farmhand who frees an unborn dragon from his evil parents' influence and assembles an army alongside the newborn.
* The modern day ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games seem to have given Dr. Eggman these moments as he'd be close to victory, then something happens that turns everything on its head. For ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', it's Chaos not taking Eggman's crap anymore. For ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', it's that the Eclipse Cannon had a Doomsday Protocol that activated when all the Chaos Emeralds are gathered in it.
* ''[[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]]'': The F-Con CEO had been planning his takeover of Encom and invasion of {{cyberspace}} with Datawraith mercenaries for ''twenty years.'' (It's impled he was Edward Dillinger from [[{{Film/Tron}} the first film]], out for payback after being forced out of Encom in disgrace). Things would have gone swimmingly...if Alan Bradley hadn't been arguing with his son [[SpinOffspring Jethro]] at the time F-con's thugs burst in the room and kidnapped him, and if Jethro hadn't been standing in just the right spot for Ma3a to kidnap ''him'' via Shiva laser.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'', Duminuss' plan was that ''real'' close to break up the spirit of EFA. First, it got ahold of Lamia and brainwashed her to the point of no return and would make her blow herself up to rub the fact that Kyosuke cannot fulfill his promise to her. That failed and later on Lamia managed to return to EFA, good as new. How? Apparently Duminuss failed to notice that that Axel [[BackFromTheDead just took a U-Turn from his journey to hell]], and [[HeelFaceTurn has an adjustment]] [[GracefulLoser in personality]] and, being another last survivor of Shadow Mirror, he just happens to have the one thing that could reset Lamia and undo all of Duminuss' machinations, and just in case Kyosuke does not break into a world-destroying maniac out of despair (it happened in his world), Axel uses that thing pronto.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', the protagonist spoils Bhaal's planned resurrection as well as all the plans of three other {{Big Bad}}s simply by surviving against all odds, and growing from a nobody orphan to one of the most powerful beings in the Forgotten Realms in the process. Late in ''Throne of Bhaal'', the Solar reveals that the protagonist being the spanner in Bhaal's works has been predicted by Alaundo's prophecy.
* In ''VideoGame/CastleRed'', the BigBad, [[spoiler: Howard]], when confronted with the upcoming Trial of the Worm, set things up so that none of the other participants would even know about the Trial, allowing him to toy with them for his own amusement without risking [[spoiler: losing his status as Lord.]] However, the first step of this plan was to [[ParasiteZombie infest all the castle's servants with worms]], but he never expected that [[spoiler: one of the servants, the maid Margaery, would be strong enough to bond with the worms and retain her sentience. This meant that there was now, unbeknownst to him, someone else in the castle who knew about the trial, knew what he really was, and who also had a vendetta against him. Once he realizes that Margaery exists and has already made contact with the other participants, he is forced to change his plans, eventually exposing himself as Lord, leading to his death at Jonathon's hands in half the endings.]]
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