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Playing With / Stealing the Credit

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Basic Trope: Somebody claims they did something that someone else did.

  • Straight: Alice defeats the Dark Lord. Bob says he did it instead.
  • Exaggerated: Alice does many great heroic deeds, but Bob takes all the credit for them from her.
  • Downplayed: Bob did contribute significantly to the battle, but he claims, using flimsy reasoning, that victory would have been impossible without him.
  • Justified:
    • Few people believe Alice could have defeated the Dark Lord in the first place, for good reasons and bad.
    • Bob was unaware that his 'Coup de GrĂ¢ce' was posthumous.
  • Inverted: Alice defeats the Dark Lord entirely by herself, but says afterwards that she could never have done if weren't for all of Bob's invaluable help. This is in spite of Bob clearly not having contributing anything.
  • Subverted: It initially seems like Bob is being arrogant, only for the rest of the party to learn, eventually, that he was the one who dealt the final blow.
  • Double Subverted: It was an extremely weak blow, and if Alice, who is a much better fighter, hadn't weakened the Dark Lord in a prolonged fight moments before, Bob could never have killed him.
  • Parodied: It's painfully obvious that Bob didn't do anything at all to defeat the Dark Lord, but everyone believes him anyway.
  • Zig-Zagged: Alice and Bob each claim they defeated the Dark Lord, offering first- and third-person testimony of varying reliability to support their respective cases.
  • Averted: Bob never claims to have defeated the Dark Lord.
  • Enforced: The show is Based on a True Story about Bob taking the credit for Alice's accomplishments.
  • Lampshaded: "Hey, Bob didn't do anything to beat the Dark Lord!" "You're Just Jealous, Alice!"
  • Invoked: Bob, or someone working on his behalf, spreads unfair negative stories about Alice so people don't like her by the time she slays the Dark Lord.
  • Exploited: Alice and Bob are rival heroes with Bob being more in it for personal profit, and he figures that claiming credit for what Alice did will get him more business.
  • Defied: Bob is about to claim he defeated the Dark Lord, but Adam, the last hero, interrupts him with an incredibly detailed account that proves conclusively that it was Alice's doing.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Implied: Other people treat Bob as if he's the hero while ignoring Alice.
  • Deconstructed: Bob takes credit for slaying the Dark Lord away from Alice. When another Dark Lord shows up, the people call upon Bob to save them, except Bob has no idea how to do it.
  • Reconstructed: Bob didn't just take the credit for defeating the last Dark Lord; he got Alice to explain how she did it, and he draws on this knowledge to defeat the new foe.
  • Played for Drama: The goal of defeating the Dark Lord was Alice's last chance at redemption. Because Bob stole the credit, that chance is gone, and Alice has to continue being a pariah.

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