Basic Trope: A plan where all outcomes benefit the planner in some way.
- Straight: The Evil Chancellor orders his Dragon to kidnap the young Princess and sends the brave Knight to save her. If the Dragon kills the Knight, he will then eat the Princess, leaving the Kingdom with no heir, in the hands of the Chancellor. If the Knight, by chance, slays the Dragon... well, then the Chancellor will be freed of the too independent familiar, and the Princess' secret Virgin Power will be conveniently sealed away, too.
- Exaggerated:
- Gambit Roulette or Gambit Pileup. Or both at the same time. Add some Xanatos Speed Chess too for extra fun.
- Complexity Addiction
- Crazy-Prepared
- Downplayed: If The Plan has five outcomes, the chancellor benefits from three.
- Justified: The Chancellor is an experienced planner and expert at seeing the silver lining.
- Inverted:
- If the Dragon kills the Knight and the Princess, he will become powerful enough to break free of the Chancellor. If the Knight wins, he and the Princess will have enough evidence to expose the Chancellor. Either way, the Chancellor loses.
- Pyrrhic Victory
- Subverted:
- The Knight has no chance to survive the battle but when he does, it suddenly proves beneficial for the Chancellor in the long run. Later on, he admits that this was pure chance.
- The Knight talks the dragon into becoming his mount. The Chancellor did not plan for this.
- Double Subverted:
- He lies, as usual.
- After a moment's reflection, he decides that framing the knight as always being the dragon's master works out better for him.
- Parodied:
- The evil chancellor claims that everything that happens is all part of his master plan... even when things are going horribly for him and the knight has him at swordpoint.
- The hero responds that he also had a plan that the villain has walked right into, and the villain says that he knew that and went along with as part of his plan, lulling the hero into a false sense of security. The hero replies that he was expecting him to do that and planned for it, but villains says...(etc.)
- Zig Zagged: The Chancellor is both such a lucky Consummate Liar and a brilliant tactician that no one can tell whether it was a part of his plan or by chance that he still benefitted in a way.
- Averted: The Chancellor simply unleashes his Legions of Hell to Take Over the World, no secret plans prepared.
- Implied: The specific order in which the Chancellor performs his actions hint that he's prepared for something to not go as planned.
- Enforced: "How can we paint the villain as highly intelligent?" "How about he creates a plan that will give him a victorious outcome no matter what happens?"
- Lampshaded: "You see, Sir Knight, either way you acted, you would have played right into my hands..."
- Invoked:
- "I'm going to need a nice, near-unbeatable plan, something that will benefit me no matter what happens. Something where I end up controlling the kingdom no matter what... I've got it!"
- This strategy was inspired by my hero, the greatest strategist of all time... David Xanatos!
- Exploited: Bob's guessed Lord Evil's plan ahead of time and is launching his own to take advantage of the results.
- Defied: "I don't have time to create a win/win situation; I'll just go shoot him and hope for the best."
- Discussed: "This guy always seems to come out on top. It's like he's planned for every outcome."
- Conversed: "Doesn't matter what they do, the Chancellor is going to come out smirking. Just watch."
- Deconstructed:
- The Knight distrusts the Chancellor and instead of charging head on, checks the tabs and discovers his previous involvement with the Dragon. He then walks up to the Dragon and tells him the truth, breaking the gambit.
- There is only so much the audience can take of the Chancellor always winning because he has plans upon plans upon plans upon plans.
- The Chancellor has so many plans upon plans upon plans to make sure he wins, he loses track of them, becomes too sure of himself, and brings about his own downfall.
- Reconstructed:
- The Knight figures out the Chancellor's plan and attempts to foil by talking with the dragon. Furious at being manipulated, the dragon flies off to attack the Chancellor. The Rescue Romance still goes off as planned (no more Virgin Power) and the Chancellor was prepared to flee from the dragon (he was getting too independent, after all). Many soldiers are killed and the castle is badly damaged before the dragon realizes that his true target isn't present, leaving it weakened and in confusion.
- The writers decide to make the Chancellor lose a few times, with the implication that those losses either are part of a greater plan or that the Chancellor learnt enough humility to become a better strategist, or they decide to turn the Chancellor into a Wild Card who occasionally helps the heroes with his invincible schemes.
- Possessing enough plans, alternatives and contingencies to confuse himself guarantees that his enemies will have no idea how to conquer his schemes, and that no Reverse Mole will help them ferret it out. All he has to do is say "All According to Plan", no matter what happens, and the Paranoia Gambit is sprung.
- Played For Laughs:
- The Chancellor's Evil Gloating has him explaining every possible outcome in minute detail before the start of the climactic battle.
- The Chancellor is so good at making invincible plans that everybody else in the hero/villain business makes the proverbial taking their ball and going home. The Chancellor, who is obsessed with finding a hero who is a worthy challenge, has finally encountered the only scenario he cannot outthink and ends up becoming a Crazy Right-Hand Cat Guy.
- The Chancellor becomes so well-known for his intricate, insidious, and invincible schemes that when he reveals himself to be the mastermind of yet another fine mess the heroes are in, the heroes are lifelessly bored.
- The heroes assume that the Chancellor cannot be the Big Bad of the week because there is no way the Chancellor would invest time and money something as stupid as a French bordello full of can-can dancers (not even ninja-trained can-can dancers). Then the Chancellor reveals himself to be the guy who created the bordello. The heroes spend five seconds utterly flummoxed and ask the Chancellor to explain to them (twice) how the heck is this supposed to help his schemes in any way.
- Played For Drama: The Chancellor's use of Xanatos Gambits paints him as highly risk averse and scared of failure, which leaves him with limited options in operating on the fly.
- Played For Horror: The Chancellor's capacity to construct invincible schemes is the direct cause of a Cruel Twist Ending.
- Intended Audience Reaction: The audience knows that the Chancellor will win. The point is the mystery of how the hell is he going to pull it off, or getting them so riled up that he always wins that when the Chancellor finally fucks up in an inescapable fashion it will be a whole lot more sweeter.
Your return to Xanatos Gambit was always part of The Plan... If you don't, my victory will be even more crushing. Take your choice, but it's not like it matters at this point.
