History Main / TrojanHorse

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the strike team that lands on Endor to deactivate the Death Star's defense shield uses a stolen Imperial shuttle to get past the security. Turns out that Darth Vader knew what they were up to, but allowed them to land in order to lure them into a trap.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies'' that parodies Greek Mythology, after seeing the myth of this, Piggy constructs a trojan chicken to get at Gonzo who is barricaded in the closet.

* In the ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' movie, Kroenen combines this with MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning. He shuts off his heart, then BPRD carries him back to their headquarters. Then Kroenen revives on the examining table.

* ''Film/TheSilence2019'': The Hushed send a little girl to the family's shelter with phones strapped to her body beneath her jacket, which are set to activate their alarms not long after the family brings her inside in order to lure the movie's sound-sensitive monsters to their location.

* A ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' cartoon acts this out with mice as the Greeks and cats at the Trojans.

* ''Film/{{Troy}}''. Well, [[CaptainObvious Duh.]]

The original is ''far'' more flattering to both sides than the simple version usually taught in elementary schools. In the original, the Greeks simply cannot take Troy, try as they might, because Poseidon has placed over the city a protective veil. So they construct a great wooden image of a horse, the sacred animal of Poseidon, then except for the few men concealed within the image, withdraw from the city, beyond any range from which they could attack, with a message placed before the image that reads, "For the honour of Troy and the glory of Poseidon." The Trojans are then forced either to reject the gift, which will likely offend Poseidon who will then withdraw his protection from the city, or bring it inside, which will require them to partly dismantle the gate and thus rend the veil. [[XanatosGambit Either way, the veil is down and the Greeks have at least a fighting chance to take the city]].

[[IncrediblyLamePun Beware of gifts bearing Greeks]].

The original is ''far'' more flattering to both sides than the simple version usually taught in elementary schools. In the original, the Greeks simply cannot take Troy, try as they might, because Poseidon has placed over the city a protective veil. So they construct a great wooden image of a horse, the sacred animal of Poseidon, then except for the few men concealed within the image, withdraw from the city, beyond any range from which they could attack, with a message placed before the image that reads, "For the honour of Troy and the glory of Poseidon." The Trojans are then forced either to reject the gift, which will likely offend Poseidon who will then withdraw his protection from the city, or bring it inside, which will require them to partly dismantle the gate and thus rend the veil. [[XanatosGambit Either way, the veil is down and the Greeks have at least a fighting chance to take the city]]. There's a reason [[TropeNamer David Xanatos]] is Greek.

* In the ''VideoGame/LupinIII'' game ''Treasure of the Sorcerer King'', Lupin manages to get himself on a train by hiding inside a statue that his partner delivers onto one of the cars.

* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': Wings of Liberty the heroes storm the Dominion weapon research facility and steal a SuperPrototype of a HumongousMecha scheduled to be shipped to the Dominion capital world to lead a parade. They then have one of their own pilot the mecha and ship it to the destination, where it is used to launch a surprise attack in the middle of the parade.
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* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' sideshow ''Go Go Gophers'' has a short titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Trojan Totem]]" where the Coyotes receive a totem pole from the Gopher Indians, and at night, the Gophers inside sneak out and sabotage the fort.

* Used in ''Fanfic/{{Interventions}}'' to [[spoiler:kill Arthur Petrelli; Illyria (in her disguise as Fred) comes to the Company claiming to be an evolved human whose abilities recently restored her ability to walk, but once in the same room as Arthur, she kills his guard, assumes her true appearance, and rips out Arthur’s spine]].
* ''Fanfic/LittleRebellions': Light Purple Pearl sneaks several rebels into an important reunion by hiding their poofed gemstones in the presents her master sent to Benitoite.

* in''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'': Dr. Brainstorm suggests doing this. Lampshaded by Jack.

-->-- ''Series/YesMinister: Bed of Nails''

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* Dr. Brainstorm suggests doing this in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''. Lampshaded by Jack.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Renegade}}'', the Scrin [[spoiler:assault and mind-control a turian cruiser while it is isolated in the Widow nebula]] in order to get close enough to the Citadel to [[spoiler:teleport troops into the GDI embassy to kill Tali and Shepard.]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

** In module OA2 ''Night of the Seven Swords'', the Michimori counselor Kaijitsu hides inside an empty sake barrel to infiltrate a gathering of oni (ogre mages). After he jumps out of the barrel he defeats all of the oni.

* In ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', Sir Bedevere devises a slight variation to infiltrate the French castle, involving a wooden rabbit. He only gets one little detail wrong — [[spoiler:he forgets that there should be somebody inside it.]] Just as well, [[spoiler:since the French catapulted it back out.]]

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the strike team that lands on Endor to deactivate the Death Star's defense shield uses a stolen Imperial shuttle to get pass the security. Turns out that Darth Vader knew what they were up to, but allowed them to land in order to lure them into a trap.

* A digital variant in ''Film/WhoAmI''. The hero hacker plants a [[MatryoshkaObject Trojan inside a Trojan]] in order to uncover the antagonist's identity. But the plan fails as the latter looks through the trick and rejects the program.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies'' that parodies Greek Mythology, after seeing the myth of this, Piggy constructs a trojan chicken to get at Gonzo who is barricaded in the closet.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirdsToons'' episode "Trojan Egg", Chef Pig builds a huge wooden egg and put King Pig in it to steal the birds eggs. The birds are not fooled, but the pigs are when they send it back.

* The ''Series/YesMinister'' episode "Bed of Nails" uses the term for a task that would mean political suicide for the clueless minister James Hacker, who has been duped into accepting the position. This leads to this page's opening quote. Next, he becomes confused with AncientGrome (since he did not attend {{Oxbridge}}).

* On ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'', a group of criminals plan to kill a prisoner who is about to turn state's evidence. Their plot involves an overly complicated scheme that first involves killing power to sections of LA to cause the prison to run their generators out of fuel. As more fuel is required, the criminals hide inside the fuel truck to plan their entry into the prison. However FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that the tanker was empty. Apparently the prison guards [[TheGuardsAreCrazy fail]] to check the inside of the truck or even tap the side to see it is empty.