History Main / KingmakerScenario

* The storylines of ''VideoGame/BeyondSkyrim''[='s=] High Rock and Cyrodiil projects will give [[PlayerCharacter the Dragonborn]] the oppotunity to respectively crown both a new High King and a new Emperor.

* At the end of ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', in the final fight between Riddick and the Lord Marshall, [[spoiler:he gets [[FlashStep caught in mid-teleport]] [[TeleportInterdiction and realizes that he's screwed.]] There are two places he can re-materialize from his teleport: at one of them, Riddick will kill him; at the other, Vaako will. He chooses to die by Riddick's hand, thus fulfilling prophecy that he will be killed by a [[LastOfHisKind Furyan]]. Since YouKillItYouBoughtIt is the Necromonger way, KlingonPromotion ensues, resulting in Riddick becoming [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning the new Lord Marshall]].]]

* ''Videogame/{{Fire Emblem Fates}}'' is built around this. Early in the game, Corrin has to choose to side with their biological family or the family they were raised with; this decision tips the odds in favour of their chosen side, [[FactionSpecificEndings ultimately leading to that country winning the war]] and that side's older brother being crowned king. Corrin can also [[TakeAThirdOption refuse to pick a side]], in which case {{everybody lives}}, both sides come together to defeat the real enemy, and [[GoldenEnding both older brothers get to be kings]]. Reflecting this, Corrin's epithet is 'crux of fate'.
* This frequently happens in ''Videogame/{{Town of Salem}}'' - three people from different factions will be left standing, and it is up to one of them to decide who wins by providing the second vote needed for a lynching[[note]]If you're a Town member and the other two people with you are a Serial Killer and a Werewolf, for example, you're doomed to lose regardless, but can choose which of the two you'll help win by helping them lynch the other. Executioners, Jesters and Pirates, Neutral roles that can win with their own methods and regardless of which faction wins, are also frequent Kingmakers[[/note]]. One role in specific, the Survivor, has this as its main strategy - many killing roles will avoid killing them, since they can win with any other factions (as long as they survive) and generally agree to act as the kingmaker vote in exchange for not being attacked.

* [[spoiler:Xion and Roxas]] are in this position in ''Videogame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', even if they don't know it until the end of the game. [[spoiler:Whoever gains control of them gains control of Sora's fate, and he is critical to the failure of Xehanort's plans in the long run. Also, it means Organization XIII loses both of their Keyblade wielders, which makes their job a lot harder.]] It takes a lot of effort, manipulation, and a virtual reality to achieve it, but eventually [[spoiler:both of them choose Sora over the Organization.]]

* ''VideoGame/Killer7'': The Smiths are hired to take out Matsuken, the leader of a significant 10 million US voters, before he can rig the elections. 10 million is technically less than 1% of the vote - BUT since the state elections are near-tied, if Matsuken herded them all into a single small state and had them vote he could win the election for whichever kiss-ass the Japanese favor. [[spoiler:And then you find out this was all a big distraction so nobody would realize the Ministry of Education has been swapping out ballot machines]].

* Kaguya from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has no real chance of inheriting the family business empire [[spoiler:due to being an illegitimate child]], but she had Hayasaka collect a wealth of blackmail material on all three of her older brothers that could tip the scale in any of their favor. This also paints a massive target on Hayasaka's back when she decides to retire from her role as Kaguya's valet.

* Kaguya from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has no real chance of inheriting the family business empire [[spoiler:due to being an illegitimate child]], but she had her maid Hayasaka collect a wealth of blackmail material on all three of her older brothers that could tip the scale in any of their favor.

** More than one character notes in passing the role the [[NGOSuperpower Iron Bank of Braavos]] could take in affairs if anybody were stupid enough to, say, default on any outstanding loans they may have accrued over the course of, say, the War of the Five. Then Cersei repeatedly tells them (quite undiplomatically) where to go, and they visibly and invisibly move into action. It's not instantaneous, but over just one book, the [[MorallyBankruptBanker Bank's]] actions start having very direct effects on the stability of the Seven Kingdoms and the Lannister-Frey-Bolton alliance finds itself ''inexplicably'' attacked from multiple, ''incredibly'' well-funded and otherwise unrelated sides in the midst of a quite ''unpredictable'' credit crisis with resulting liquidity freeze. Just when they appeared to be beginning to solidify their hold on things. Almost like an [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetmaster indirect, political pincer manoeuvre]]. Funny, that.

** More than one character notes in passing the role the Iron Bank could take in affairs if anybody were stupid enough to, say, default on any outstanding loans they may have accrued over the course of, say, the War of the Five. Then Cersei repeatedly tells them (quite undiplomatically) where to go, and they visibly and invisibly move into action. It's not instantaneous, but over just one book, the Bank's actions start having very direct effects on the stability of the Seven Kingdoms and the Lannister-Frey alliance finds itself ''inexplicably'' attacked from multiple, ''incredibly'' well-funded sides in the midst of a quite ''unpredictable'' credit crisis with resulting liquidity freeze. Funny, that.

* [[spoiler:Xion and Roxas]] are in this position in ''Videogame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', even if they don't know it until the end of the game. [[spoiler:Whoever gains control of them gains control of Sora's fate, and he is critical to the failure of Xehanort's plans in the long run. Also, it means Organisation XIII lose both of their keyblade weilders which makes their job a lot harder.]] It takes a lot of effort, manipulation and a virtual reality to achieve it, but eventually [[spoiler:both of them choose Sora over the Organisation.]]

* Subverted at the end of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'''s ''World of Light'' adventure mode: the player can choose to either [[spoiler: destroy Dharkon and thus allow Galeem to bathe the world in light, or destroy Galeem and allow Dharkon to shroud the world in darkness. The third option which leads to the GoldenEnding? Destroy both at once.]]

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': There are four factions with different policies for Synthetic Humans: Kill Them (Brotherhood of Steel), Free Them (Underground Railroad), Enslave Them (The Institute), and Who The Fuck Cares (Minutemen). Each has their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and those with more power are also more entangled / retarded, so the conflict has come to an even standstill. You can side with any of the first three and kill the other two, use the fourth to destroy the third yourself, or broker an alliance between the Brotherhood and Railroad with the Minutemen as ambassadors and murder the fuck out of The Institute.

* LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys:
** They encountered a kingmaker scenario with the ''Mario Party 4'' board "Koopa's Seaside Soiree". NCS was at boo, and could steal from Jon, netting Chugga the win, or could steal from Chugga, netting Jon the win. [[spoiler:He stole ''coins'' from ''the '''AI''''', denying Chugga the coin star -- so, indirectly, he stole from Chugga.]]
** They also did a game of ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet''. LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} wound up having no hope of winning, so he devoted his efforts into making sure the close game between LetsPlay/NintendoCapriSun and LetsPlay/ProtonJon went in NCS's favor... or rather, making sure it didn't go in Jon's favor.
* A nearly-identical situation happened in WebVideo/SteamTrain's playthrough of ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet''; in this case, Ross played kingmaker and helped Arin beat Suzy.

* In ''Manga/{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'', this came into play when Seto wrested control of [=KaibaCorp=] from Gozaburo. Seto formed a voting bloc with the five department heads, controlling 49% of the shares between them. Gozaburo holds another 49% himself, meaning that the remaining 2%, held by Mokuba, determined who would become the new CEO.

** ''VideoGame/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.

* Common in ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}}''. The game will often devolve to a point where only some players have a chance at winning. To maintain fairness, the others are supposed to turtle up and defend as long as they can. Considering how much fun that tends to be (i.e. ''not at all''), many a losing player shortened their suffering by a suicidal charge that weakened himself and another player to a point where someone else can easily take over both territories.
* Creator/AvalonHill's ''Kingmaker'' is based on this trope. Set during the War of the Roses, each player controls a group of nobles, and tries to capture the royalty in each of the two conflicting houses. Once one of the houses is wiped out, the winner is the one with the most senior member of the surviving house. Neville the Kingmaker, mentioned above, is one of the stronger nobles in the game (though Percy is the most powerful).
* Avalon Hill's ''Third Reich'' has a mild version of this trope. The game takes place in Europe during World War Two and is balanced so that either side can win while the rules guide both sides into making decisions similar to what happened historically. The Italians are the weakest of the six playable factions but bear enormous influence the final outcome based on what they do in 1939 and 1940. A skilled Italian player can conquer Yugoslavia and Greece without German help and tie up half the British military while also remaining neutral.

* The ShadowHunters board game has this as a basic mechanic. Players are devided between hunters, shadows, and neutrals, with specific roles being hidden at first. Hunters and Shadows win by finding and defeating the all members of the other side, but neutrals are not allied with either and each has their own objectives. Many of the neutrals have objectives that encourage them to play kingmaker. Examples include a neutral who wins if a player to one side of them wins, or ones that win just by surviving till the end of the game. There's nothing like seeing the 8 year old girl who's objective was survival, who spent the entire game collecting protective/healing cards and begging others to not harm her, suddently turn on the last hunter and brutally murder him just to end the game and ensure they win.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' scenario "Lost Heir of the Rinaldi" has the player characters hired to find the recently deceased king's missing son. [[spoiler: He turns out to be catatonic from a curse, and another party has presented a very convincing, and functional, impostor already. Players might want to strike a deal with them instead of trying to cure the real prince.]]

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', the Election of 1800 between Jefferson and Burr ends up being a tie. The people look to Hamilton and ask who he thinks should be the third President of the United States. Hamilton chooses [[spoiler:his ideological rival Jefferson over his old friend Burr.]] His reasoning is that [[spoiler:Jefferson at least ''has'' an ideology while Burr just wants power for its own sake.]]

* ''Videogame/{{Fire Emblem Fates}}'' is built around this. Early in the game, Corrin has to choose to side with her biological family or the family she was raised with; her decision tips the odds in favour of her chosen side, ultimately leading to that country winning the war and that side's older brother being crowned king. Or she can refuse to pick a side, in which case {{everybody lives}}, both sides come together to defeat the real enemy, and both older brothers get to be kings. Reflecting this, Corrin's epithet is 'crux of fate'.

* Pretty much the entire plot of ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald''. Grindelwald is trying to take over the world. The only wizard powerful enough to fight him on even ground is Dumbledore; it's implied the two are so powerful that no other wizard or collection of wizards has a chance against either. However, Dumbledore and Grindelwald ''can't'' fight each other directly [[spoiler:because of a blood oath from when they were children.]] Grindelwald thus spends the entire film trying to recruit Creedence, who's [[spoiler:Dumbledore's long lost brother, and thus a third wizard on equal ground with the two who could turn the tide for either side. The film ends with Creedence joining Grindelwald,]] though we won't know how things shake out until later movies are released. It's worth pointing out that Creedence- not being familiar with the wizarding world- doesn't know about the war and is completely unaware of his status as Kingmaker.

* Pretty much the entire plot of ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald''. Grindelwald is trying to take over the world; the only wizard powerful enough to fight him on even ground is Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore and Grindelwald ''can't'' fight each other directly [[spoiler:because of a blood oath from when they were children.]] Grindelwald thus spends the entire film trying to recruit Creedence, who's [[spoiler:Dumbledore's long lost brother, and thus a powerful wizard who could turn the tide for either side. The film ends with Creedence joining Grindelwald,]] though we won't know how things shake out until later movies are released. It's worth pointing out Creedence- not being familiar with the wizarding world- doesn't know about the war and is completely unaware of his status as Kingmaker.