History Main / DoubleAgent

* Ryouji Kaji of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is employed by NERV, SEELE, and the Japanese government to spy on and steal information from one another; NERV knows he's a double agent, SEELE suspects, and the National Security Agency is relatively clueless. Eventually, one of the factions [[spoiler:(either SEELE or NERV, per [[WordOfGod Word of Anno]])]] gets sick of his backstabbing [[spoiler:and calls in a hit on him.]]

* Pretty much the entire point of ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/SplinterCell: Double Agent'', although the player can ultimately determine just ''who'' Sam is ultimately working for.

* Taken to truly brain-melting levels in the book [[FilmOfTheBook and film]] ''WhereEaglesDare'': although everybodies' loyalties are eventually revealed to have been constant throughout, the loyalties they claim ping-pong back andforth like crazy. Check under BatmanGambit for details.

* Ryan O'Reily in the HBO series ''{{Oz}}'', who worked rival gang leaders against each other by frequently pledging loyalty to each of them and suggesting opposing plans of attack in order to get them to murder each other. He's rather a self-interested manipulator, using one faction against another to survive.

-->--'''''Series/BurnNotice''''', "Hard Bargain"

* Gajeel of ''Manga/FairyTail'' used to be one between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail, though loyal to Fairy Tail. In what could be considered an example of TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot, the information he gets from Raven Tail never really comes to use, as before Fairy Tail can find Raven Tail and stop them in their tracks, fate has them meet in the Grand Magic Games. Laxus defeats them, and they realize that Gajeel was really loyal to Fairy Tail all along, making his agent status obsolete. However, they only make a blink-and-you-miss-it comment about it, and what Gajeel did and found out as a double agent is never expanded on.

* Ryouji Kaji of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is employed by NERV, SEELE, and the Japanese government to spy on and steal information from one another; NERV knows he's a DoubleAgent, SEELE suspects, and the National Security Agency is relatively clueless. Eventually, one of the factions gets sick of his backstabbing [[spoiler:and calls in a hit on him.]]
** [[spoiler: It is either SEELE or NERV, per [[WordOfGod Word of Anno]]]]
* Sideways, from ''TransformersArmada'', masqueraded as an Autobot, then did a FaceHeelTurn and "revealed" he was "really" a Decepticon... only to later betray them as well. Turned out he was trying to escalate the war for his [[PlanetEater Boss]]. He made a return appearance in ''Cybertron.''

* ''[[Literature/AssassinFantastic On My Honor]]'': the main character is a DoubleAgent working as TheMole in one kingdom as well as one of its ruler's most trusted assassins. Then he's assigned to murder the king of his home country, an [[TheCaligula unpopular new ruler]]. Obviously this makes things... complicated.

* In ''Tabletopgame/{{Paranoia}}'', the entire team of player-characters can be made up of these.
** If they aren't, you're doing it wrong. Unless they're triple or quadruple agents instead, in which case you're doing it very right indeed. The premise of ''Paranoia'' is that mutants and members of secret societies are by definition traitors who must be executed by the Troubleshooters [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin (they find trouble, and then they shoot it).]] Your character is a Troubleshooter. Your character is ''also'' a mutant. ''And'' a member of a secret society. Won't this be fun?

* [[MagnificentBastard Revolver Ocelot,]] of ''Franchise/MetalGear'' fame, is probably the definition of this. With four entries into the series it's unknown to this day exactly who Ocelot is working for other than himself. The end of each game has him talking with some puppetmaster or another over the phone, making known his double, triple, and quadruple crosses but never quite explaining what they ''are'' when all is said and done. To wit, he gives an arguably false name to Big Boss at the end of the third game, is revealed to have been masterminding the entire events of it in the third-and-a-half-th game, is apparently both a ManBehindTheMan and double crosser to Liquid Snake in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' (working for the President), and is seen "working for" the same (ex) President in a conspiracy in [=MGS2=] up until the end, where it turns out he was actually working for a completely ''different'' conspiracy as well as himself.
** Gets even more complex in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' where he's [[spoiler: an agent of said conspiracy working to destroy it from within.]]
** Though amazingly, he did tell Big Boss [[spoiler: his real name]].
*** Basically, it seems Ocelot worked for [[spoiler: The American CIA before transferring his allegiance to Big Boss. Everything else was him playing multiple sides for Big Boss's sake. Of course, it still fits as being out for himself, because he really respects Big Boss.]]
** Loads of them show up in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3''. [[spoiler: The Boss, EVA, Ocelot (of course).]]

* Pretty much the entire point of ''SplinterCell Double Agent'', although the player can ultimately determine just ''who'' Sam is ultimately working for.
* The player character in ''FarCry 2''.

* The roleplaying game ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' involves so many conflicting goals that the [=PCs=] are basically forced into this. Each of them has some part of the mission that they'd love to sabotage if they can get away with it (by either framing a teammate or just ensuring it stays concealed long enough that it can't be traced back to them), but most of them are otherwise loyal (or at least insufficiently opposed) to Alpha Complex and will try to do their job.

* Gaea from the ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' franchise, while a self-serving ManipulativeBastard, is still nominally part of the Empire and the Noob guild thanks to game mechanics. She also works with the hacker who wants to drive players out of the game for in-game currency and other perks. Then, thanks to a FrameUp, a bunch of Coalition players get convinced that she's a DoubleAgent loyal to the Coalition. Gaea never sets them right because extra players that can take the bullet for her are always a good thing from her point a view. This situation gets an extra level of complexity when [[spoiler:Gaea eventually joins the Coalition, but her second gaming avatar remains an Empire and Noob guild member]], but the closest she ever gets to actual spying is getting paid to give the Empire top guild information about the hacker.

* In one of the greatest intelligence success stories of all time, the British managed to turn literally every German spy in Britain to their service early in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WW2]], then used the German intelligence network in England as a massive puppet show to deceive Germany about Allied strength, strategy, and goals. And since they had all the current German infiltrators turned, they always knew when new ones would be snuck in, and captured them immediately. The captured spies would be given the option to join in the sending of false info, or die. Some would be kept out of circulation anyway, because the Germans obviously would have gotten suspicious if ''none'' of their spies were ever caught. (Admittedly, at least in the case of the UsefulNotes/{{Abwehr}} agents, a lot of them probably switched sides willingly with the hope of bringing down the Nazis.)

->''"[[http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/1/11/Spy_specialcompleted07.wav I never really was on your side.]]"''
-->--'''The Spy''', ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* Gaea from the ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' franchise, while a self-serving ManipulativeBastard, is still nominally part of the Empire and the Noob guild thanks to game mechanics. She also works with the hacker who wants to drive players out of the game for in-game currency and other perks. Then, thanks to a FrameUp, a bunch of Coalition players get convinced that she's a DoubleAgent loyal to the Coalition. Gaea never sets them right because extra players that can take the bullet for her are always a good thing from her point a view. This situation gets an extra level of complexity when [[spoiler:Gaea eventually joins the Coalition, but her second gaming avatar remains an Empire and Noob guild member]], but the closest she ever gets to actual spying is getting paid to give the Empire top guild information about the hacker.

[[folder:Pinball]]
* The instruction card for Creator/DataEast's ''Pinball/SecretService'' pinball implies the player is one of these, possibly to justify why he's shooting (pinballs) at the White House and the Capitol Building.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Videogames]]

** If they aren't, you're doing it wrong. Unless they're triple or quadruple agents instead, in which case you're doing it very right indeed. The premise of Paranoia is that mutants and members of secret societies are by definition traitors who must be executed by the Troubleshooters (they find trouble, and then they shoot it). Your character is a Troubleshooter. Your character is ''also'' a mutant. ''And'' a member of a secret society. Won't this be fun?

* In one of the greatest intelligence success stories of all time, the British managed to turn literally every German spy in Britain to their service early in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WW2]], then used the German intelligence network in England as a massive puppet show to deceive Germany about Allied strength, strategy, and goals. And since they had all the current German infiltrators turned, they always knew when new ones would be snuck in, and captured them immediately. The captured spies would be given the option to join in the sending of false info, or die. Some would be kept out of circulation anyway, because the Germans obviously would have gotten suspicious if ''none'' of their spies were ever caught. (Admittedly, at least in the case of the {{Abwehr}} agents, a lot of them probably switched sides willingly with the hope of bringing down the Nazis.)

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in ''{{Cypher}}''. Almost every character is a double agent, to the extent you'll be sure that even the cleaners had a hidden agenda. And the protagonist [[spoiler:is.. well, let's see.. He starts as a spy for Digicorp, they brainwash him into a double agent to be planted at Sunways, but Sunways had the brainwashing sabotaged so he could be a triple spy, then he contacts Foster to become a spy for Rooks, then gets tempted into betraying Rooks for Digicorp as Rooks mole in Digicorp had planned all along, and then turns out to be Rooks himself playing all the others. So that's 6 times, a Sextuple spy. Yeah.]]

* Gaea from the ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' franchise, while a self-serving ManipulativeBastard, is still nominally part of the Empire and the Noob guild thanks to game mechanics. She also works with the hacker who wants to drive players of the game of in-game currency and other perks. Then, thanks to getting FrameUp, a bunch of Coalition players get convinced that she's a DoubleAgent loyal to the Coalition. Gaea never sets them right because extra players that can take the bullet for her is always a good thing from her point a view. This situation gets an extra level of complexity when [[spoiler:Gaea eventually joins the Coalition, but her second gaming avatar remains an Empire and Noob guild member]], but the closest she ever gets to actual spying is getting paid to give the Empire top guild information about the hacker.

* [[spoiler: Itachi]] from ''{{Naruto}}'' was a double agent for [[spoiler: Konoha]] while pretending to be the [[spoiler: Uchiha clan's]] mole in the [[spoiler: ANBU]]

* All over the ColdWar works of JohnLeCarre.

* In one of the greatest intelligence success stories of all time, the British managed to turn literally every German spy in Britain to their service early in [[WorldWarII WW2]], then used the German intelligence network in England as a massive puppet show to deceive Germany about Allied strength, strategy, and goals. And since they had all the current German infiltrators turned, they always knew when new ones would be snuck in, and captured them immediately. The captured spies would be given the option to join in the sending of false info, or die. Some would be kept out of circulation anyway, because the Germans obviously would have gotten suspicious if ''none'' of their spies were ever caught. (Admittedly, at least in the case of the {{Abwehr}} agents, a lot of them probably switched sides willingly with the hope of bringing down the Nazis.)

* ''Literature/HarryPotter:'' Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. His true allegiance is one of the Big Mysteries of the first six books, and, after frantic EpilepticTrees regarding the sixth book's ending, in the seventh it at last turns out [[spoiler: that he was good all along, and that he helped Dumbledore because he was in love with Lily and felt guilty that she died because he was a Death eater and was the one who related the prophecy to Voldemort]].

[[folder:Pinball]

** If they aren't, you're doing it wrong. Unless they're triple or quadruple agents inatead, in which case you're doing it very right indeed. The premise of Paranoia is that mutants and members of secret societies are by definition traitors who must be executed by the Troubleshooters (they find trouble, and then they shoot it). Your character is a Troubleshooter. Your character is ''also'' a mutant. ''And'' a member of a secret society. Won't this be fun?