History Main / KingmakerScenario

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** In VideoGame/MightAndMagic VII, you play as a quartet of new royals. Halfway through the game, you have to choose between allying with the side of light or the side of darkness. The side you ally with wins, because [[spoiler:one of your main quests is to tip the political balance in your favor by killing the other team's counterpart to the one who gives you the quest in the first place]], all for the sake of getting one more Control Cube. IF it were possible to not choose a side at all, you would then have to kill the leaders of both sides, and you'd never be able to repair the Heavenly Forge anyway or the portal to the Gateweb [[spoiler: (as you wouldn't know the location of the Lincoln)]]...
*** The Human-Elf War can look like this, although your influence can both tip the balance to one side and change the nature of the peace (after a few relatively minor skirmishes and actions, or after a bloody war). [[spoiler: It isn't: if one has actively taken a side by doing the War-time quests, the option is opened to do something that will allow you to win and establish a Kingdom of Harmondale, either as a compromise after the early skirmishes, or after bloody warfare exhausting both powers.]]

* Criston Cole, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was literally called "The Kingmaker" in ''ASongOfIceAndFire.'' He championed Viserys I's younger son Aegon II over his chosen heir, elder daughter Rhaenyra. This led to the Dance of the Dragons, a bloody civil war that tore the realm in half (including the Kingsguard itself) and led to the death of most of the Targaryen dragons. Aegon II won, but was ultimately succeeded by Rhaenyra's son, Aegon III.
** A variation happened in ''The Storm Of Swords'' when the Night's Watch was electing their lord commander. Their custom is when a lord commander dies, a voting is done every day until someone gets at least two third of the votes. The most popular nominees were Cotter Pyke and Denys Mallister, with Janos Slynt, a SmugSnake sent by the Lannisters, at the third place, continuously increasing in popularity. If any one of them would have resigned in favor of any other, he would have won. This is when Sam Tarly decided to TakeAThirdOption. [[spoiler: He convinced both Pyke and Mallister to resign in favor of Jon, making him the new lord commander.]]
** [[spoiler: A running theme in the ongoing civil war is for the weaker great houses to swing the balance of power by switching sides. As of the end of the most recent book, there are still two that haven't committed to any faction.]]

* Criston Cole, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was literally called "The Kingmaker" in ''ASongOfIceAndFire.'' He championed Viserys I's younger son Aegon II over his chosen heir, elder daughter Rhaenyra. This led to the Dance of the Dragons, a bloody civil war that tore the realm in half (including the Kingsguard itself) and led to the death of most of the Targaryen dragons. Aegon II won, but was ultimately succeeded by Rhaenyra's son.

* In ''{{Gargoyles}}'', Findlaech seemed to be a Kingmaker, or at least Duncan saw him as such (and ordered him murdered so that he couldn't raise his son Macbeth to the throne).

-->'''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'''

-->'''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''

* For the longest time, the Capellan Confederation in ''TabletopGames/BattleTech'' was viewed as sitting in this scenario. They were unlikely to make it to the top of the heap in a setting full of political intrigues and HumongousMecha when they were often plagued by both [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen severely crazy rulers]] and the smallest army of the five Successor States. However, what they had was the ability to 'king' almost any of the other four houses by virtue of choosing who they fought. While such a fight could doubtless [[PyhrricVictory reduce the Capellan Confederation to little more than a memory]], it would also weaken the enemy they fought enough for that nation's other foes to gain the upper hand. Flanked as they were by the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League, throwing themselves fully at the Suns would result in the eventual victory of the Draconis Combine and the League, while spending themselves against the League would result in inevitable victory for the Lyran Commonwealth and by extension their Federated Suns allies. This UnstableEquilibrium ''almost'' fell apart during the Fourth Succession War.

** A nearly-identical situation happened in SteamTrain's playthrough of the game; in this case, Ross played kingmaker and helped Arin beat Suzy.

* ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games love this. It happens in almost every game:
** Part of the plot of ''ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'': the Demi-Fiend himself cannot create a Reason (due to his demonic body), but he can choose to support those created by others. Whichever Reason he supports will succeed without fail ([[NintendoHard or as close as you can get in an Atlus game]]). The problem with this system: [[spoiler:There are six endings and only three Reasons.[[OhCrap The Demi-Fiend is not strictly required to support any of them.]]]]
** Occurs early on in ''DigitalDevilSaga'': the Maribel and Solids Tribes are at a standstill, so the Embryon's tactician suggests forming an alliance with the former to destroy the latter. He later acknowledges he would have done the same thing with the Wolves and the Brutes had the Wolves lasted long enough.
** ''DevilSurvivor2'' has the Protagonist being the Kingmaker for the entire cosmic scenario: it is, ultimately, his allegiance to a certain faction's plan (Tokyo's two potential plans, Nagoya's, Osaka's, or the Anguished One's plan) which breaks the stalemate and pushes said faction to win the right of recreating the world.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', this is more or less the situation going on at the start of the game, with neither the NCR, Legion, or Mr. House having the capability to defeat one opposing faction without falling to the other. It's up to the Courier to break the deadlock in any way they can. [[spoiler: Including eliminating everyone else and [[ICanRuleAlone installing yourself]] as the new ruler of the Mojave Wasteland]].

'''NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''. They tend to degenerate into a political Administrivia/ConversationInTheMainPage.

'''NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''. They tend to degenerate into a political ConversationInTheMainPage.

* During the second season of ''{{Jericho}}'', this plays out between the Allied States Of America and the remaining pieces of the United States Of America. Whichever side can convince the now-independent Republic of Texas to ally with them will be able to defeat the other.

A Kingmaker Scenario occurs when two sides in a conflict are evenly matched and [[MeleeATrois the third one]] is unable to overpower the other two. The third power then becomes the "King Maker": while it cannot win itself, it can ally itself with one of the other two, breaking the stalemate and bringing victory to its chosen side ("[[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning crowning them king]]"). The term "kingmaker scenario" comes from the game theory and was most likely inspired by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville,_16th_Earl_of_Warwick Richard Neville]] a.k.a. [[TropeNamer Warwick the Kingmaker]], who, while not suitable for the British throne himself (owing to a lack of RoyalBlood), installed and deposed two sovereigns in short succession during the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses.

A KingmakerScenario occurs when two sides in a conflict are evenly matched and [[MeleeATrois the third one]] is unable to overpower the other two. The third power then becomes the "King Maker": while it cannot win itself, it can ally itself with one of the other two, breaking the stalemate and bringing victory to its chosen side ("[[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning crowning them king]]"). The term "kingmaker scenario" comes from the game theory and was most likely inspired by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville,_16th_Earl_of_Warwick Richard Neville]] a.k.a. [[TropeNamer Warwick the Kingmaker]], who, while not suitable for the British throne himself (owing to a lack of RoyalBlood), installed and deposed two sovereigns in short succession during the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses.

In multiplayer games, a KingMaker is a player who, while unable to win himself, is able (or forced) to determine which of the other players will win. This will usually end up being the one who the "kingmaker" likes more at the time. This scenario is disliked by players except in games where personal politics play a role in the game's outcome by design (such as ''{{Diplomacy}}''), and a game where such a scenario occurs frequently is referred to as having the "Kingmaker Problem".