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If you can't trust Colonel Sanders, you can't trust anybody.
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"You are far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote for an effective demonstration."
—Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Star Wars: A New Hope
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Stock Phrase uttered in response to You Said You Would Let Them Go or a similar expression of shock at a broken promise of lenience or forgiveness. Spoken by the villain (or a particularly unmerciful hero) just before killing the hostage, blowing up the Doomed Hometown, using the Doomsday Device, or some other act of merciless badness. Sometimes spoken just after, with a smirk and a smoking gun.
Generally speaking, anyone who says this is lining up that puppy between the goal posts or even about to perform their defining act of depravity and has, in any case, revealed their cruelest colors. Expect them to rub it in with Evil Gloating, asking the heroes "Did you actually believe me when I said..."
For some reason, this often seems to take the heroes by surprise, even when the speaker has an extensive history of villainy. This is most likely because, as we all know, Villains Never Lie.
Sometimes used by a former bad guy who's made a Heel Face Turn — made the offer to rejoin Team Evil, they calmly accept, or perhaps pretend to seriously contemplate the offer, shocking any listening heroes, and about three seconds later proceed to kick ass on the side of good, taking everybody by surprise. The bad guy looks up at them and protests, "You said you're on our side!" The former bad guy says, "Yeah. I lied."
Usually said with dripping irony, which tends to fall a little flat if the speaker doesn't at least put a new spin on the phrase. Contrast Empty Promise and Villains Never Lie
Anime & Manga[]
- Inverted in the Black Butler final episode, where we have a Villain Protagonist becoming slightly less villainous sharing this exchange with his Affably Evil demon butler, causing a bit of a Tear Jerker as Sebastian jumps into the Thames to recover Ciel.
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Sebastian: You said you would live till then. |
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- While it's not the exact phrase, similar things are naturally said countless times in Liar Game, both when the villains reveal that they were just manipulating the good guys, and when the good guys pull a fast one over the villains. Commonly said in the form "This is the Liar Game; it's a game where you lie."
- After the heroes of Monster Rancher give themselves up for a hostage, Pixie goes so far as to say that she never keeps her promises.
- In Naruto Madara Uchiha says that the main reason he is capturing the tailed beasts is because his ultimate plan will bring about world peace. Naruto confronts him and says he really only wants power. Madara simply laughs and tells him he's right.
- In Bleach chapter 414, it's seen that the ever Affably Evil Gin Ichimaru lied about his Bankai in his amazingly simple watch-and-wait ploy to kill Big Bad Aizen. Did we mention that he has probably been plotting this for over a CENTURY and broke the Explaining Your Power to the Enemy rule, as well as being in complete violation of the Big Bad's Complexity Addiction?
- Aizen spent at least as long telling the rest of the soul society that his Zanpakuto just dazzled opponents with pretty reflections.
- Late in Gundam X, Garrod threatens to destroy the Space Revolutionary Army's colony laser unless they return the kidnapped Tifa. Of course he blows it up anyway; Garrod is The Hero and there's no way in Hell he'd allow such a powerful weapon to remain in the hands of belligerents who want to destroy the Earth.
- Rare heroic example in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, when in a previous timeline, Madoka and Homura are lying side-by-side, having defeated Walpurgis Night but, due to not having any Grief Seeds left, about to become witches themselves thanks to The Corruption... when Madoka suddenly produces a single Grief Seed with which she cleanses Homura's Soul Gem. Then asks Homura to Mercy Kill her.
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Homura: You said you didn't have any Grief Seeds left! |
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- In "Fullmetal Alchemist" Riza Hawkeye says this to Envy as she shoots him after she told him the Colonel calls her Riza.
- In the manga and second anime of Fruits Basket, Rin is imprisoned by Akito after Akito's evil mother Ren tricks Rin into stealing something from Akito and promises she'll tell Rin how to break ther clan's Hereditary Curse. When Ren's personal maid asks her mistress if she truly knows how to break the curse, Ren's reply amounts to this.
Comicbooks[]
- Served with extra Narm sauce in Jack Chick tract "First Bite":
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Warlock: Master! Why did you tell us that Igor was the Promised One? |
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- Almost word for word from The Joker in the famous "Laughing Fish" story:
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Batman: You said you'd let him go. |
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- Jason Todd's mother tells this to him after selling him out to the Joker.
- The second issue of the four part miniseries that started Sonic the Hedgehog has Robotnik doing this to Sally when she meets with him to bargin for his father's life. As it turns out, Sally had anticipated this and the real plan was to get an analyzation of the roboticizer. This plan was screwed up when Sonic rescued her because Sally didn't bother to tell anyone besides Rotor the plan.
- In the Judge Dredd story arc that revives Judge Death, the other three Dark Judges tell this to the poor fool they coerced into freeing Judge Death on the promise that they'd let his wife go: "WE LIED!"
- Used by the authorities in Young Justice, after they had promised Red Tornado and his wife that they'd let him off for acting out against a court order separating him from his daughter.
- In Sin City: The Big Fat Kill, Becky was promised to be allowed to live after she ratted out the Old Town Girls. Manute, the Big Bad of the story never says these words but considering he made the promise and then had Becky killed anyway...
Fanfic[]
- The Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic Prison Island Break has this used in a prison setting...
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Silver: Are you good or are you bad? |
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- A MLP: FIM Fan Fic entitled "Cheerilee's Garden" has a moment where Sliverspoon and Diamond are put through a Not-so Secret test of Character where she has to choose between her life and her best friend's, She chooses to spare her friends life by getting a drill put through her eye in a moment of true friendship. After Silverspoon gets knocked uncontious from blood loss after having her toungue cut off Cheerilee tells Diamond Tiara if she can get to Silverspoon on the other side of the room she'll let them both go. This is made extreamly difficult because Diamon tiara's hooves have been Reduced to nothing but bone She SOMEHOW makes it only to find out Cheerilee Lied to them and they get a huge batch of acid poured on them till their entire body is agonizingly reduced to nothing.
Film[]
- In Sister Act, on allowing Deloris to say in the convent:
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Reverend Mother:That is not a person you can hide. That is a conspicuous person, designed to stick out. |
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- Spoken by John Matrix in Commando, a rare heroic version:
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Matrix: Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last? |
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- Homaged by Pegasus and Bakura in Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series.
- World of Warcraft pays homage to this with Lieutenant General Adorov in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.
- Also parodied in Robot Chicken:
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Ted Kennedy: Remember when I said I'd kill you last? |
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- On an episode of The Simpsons, obvious Schwarzenegger parody Rainier Wolfcastle says this to a piece of pie. ("Remember when I said I would eat you last?")
- Damodar says the exact line in the Dungeons and Dragons movie. Most of the audience saw it coming from around the opening credits.
- In Inkheart, the Big Bad Capricorn lies — a lot — in order to get people to do what he wants, and such gets one of these in about every scene he's in, in addition to being honestly baffled that people are surprised. At one point, he lies about having lied.
- In the He Man and The Masters of The Universe live action movie starring Dolph Lundgren, Skeletor won. He got He-Man to surrender, give up his sword, let himself be tortured, because he left He-Man's friends back on Earth. Said friends found their way back to Eternia and attacked Skeletor's forces, and when they attacked back He-Man shouts that Skeletor promised not to hurt them. The weird thing here is that technically, Skeletor did honor his part and his forces are actually defending themselves. However, Skeletor is drunk with power at this point so fulfilled this trope just to fulfill it. (He's evil). Which galvanizes He-Man to kill him. Whups!
- Used by Gary Oldman's character in Air Force One:
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Grace Marshall: You said you were gonna release us. |
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- From a deleted scene of Back to The Future Part III:
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Buford: Now, I'm warning you Marshal, I'm here on a personal matter, if you want to live to see your boy grow up, you'll ride out of here for a few hours and leave me be. |
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- Appears in Terminator 3, showing the titular machine had become ridiculously human enough to lie.
- Or to reference his old movies.
- Invoked by Overdog, played by Michael Ironside in Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone to Nicki (played by a young Molly Ringwald).
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Overdog: You have a very enviable life force, a life force you're going to share with me. |
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- In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, remember Lando Calrissian of Cloud City, making a deal with Darth Vader? The one that kept getting worse all the time? It worked out in the end, and the Expanded Universe makes it clear that if he had refused, Cloud City would have been attacked and destroyed, but damn. There are two exchanges that reflect this trope, though neither actually say "I lied."
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Lando: That was never a condition of our agreement, nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter! |
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- ...and
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Darth Vader: Calrissian. Take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship. |
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- There's also the scene from A New Hope where Leia bluffs about the location of the rebel base and Tarkin immediately orders the destruction of her home planet, telling her she is "far too trusting".
- Well, Tarkin said he would blow up Alderaan if she did not tell him the base's location. He never said that he would not blow up Alderaan if Leia did tell him the location.
- Reversed a few minutes later when Tarkin is absolutely shocked to learn Leia lied about that location. Vader responds with "I told you she would never consciously betray the rebellion".
- Also, in the Expanded Universe, Vergere. "When will you learn that everything I tell you is a lie?"
- Of course, Vergere's more of a Trickster Mentor than anything else (at least, until Legacy of the Force retconed her into a Sith)
- And let's face it, From a Certain Point of View is just Jedi for I Lied.
- There's also the scene from A New Hope where Leia bluffs about the location of the rebel base and Tarkin immediately orders the destruction of her home planet, telling her she is "far too trusting".
- The Mask: "You said you wouldn't hurt him!" followed by the obligatory smug "I lied".
- Gollum/Smeagol does this in the film version of Return of the King. The variation here is the Split Personality. Frodo always knew that "Gollum" couldn't be trusted, but he thought that "Smeagol" would keep his word to obey him. When Smeagol turns on Frodo near the end, they have this exchange:
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Frodo: Smeagol promised! |
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- Peter Jackson said in the DVD Commentary that they put that line in so it would be clear to the audience that both sides of the split personality couldn't be trusted (since Smeagol had snapped and gone as crazy as Gollum) and make Smeagol/Gollum's Karmic Death acceptable.
- Heathers: J.D. tells Veronica that using "ich luge" bullets will only pierce the skin of the jocks, not kill them. "Ich lüge" is German for "I'm lying."
- Used by the good guy in Star Trek III the Search For Spock:
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Kirk: Help us or die! |
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- Worth pointing out, in a nerdy way, that from the Klingon perspective, this makes Kirk very much a villain. It's considered a great deal of dishonor for a Klingon to be captured alive rather than killed in battle.
- In the film Freejack, Mick Jagger gets the very last line in the film, when asked by Emilio Estevez about his sudden change of loyalties. It is delivered with such scenery chewing glee that it may be the Platonic Ideal of I Lied.
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Vacendak: I LIED! |
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- In Demon Knight, The Collector says this directly to one character just before he is Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves.
- A somewhat more meta-example: Scary Movie's tagline was "No Mercy. No Shame. No Sequel." When Scary Movie 2 came out, their tagline was: "We lied."
Literature[]
- An Elf attempts that on Magrat in Lords and Ladies. However, she was one step ahead and had already persuaded him to hold Schrodinger's Claymore Mine.
- In The Thrawn Trilogy, Grand Admiral Thrawn speaks to ex-Imperial-agent Mara Jade about the location of the long-lost Katana fleet; she doesn't know, but her current boss does. Thrawn tells her that she has a few days to go get the coordinates and lets her get back to her ship and rendezvous with her boss, but he plants a tracking device on her, shows up just after she does, and captures him. Mara is furious, and this incident is what turns her against the Empire for good; Thrawn is coldly practical. Ultimately works very much against Thrawn, making this one of the few times he succumbs to the Villain Ball.
- Word for word in the Old Kingdom trilogy. "You told me you weren't one of the Seven!" "I lied. It's one of the reasons I'm the Disreputable Dog."
- Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: Believe it or not, the heroes (anti-heroes may be a better term) use this a number of times on the villains! The Vigilantes used this on the bad guys in Final Justice. Jack Emery, and Harry Wong at least pull this on a pedophile polygamist sheriff and his two deputies in Under The Radar. Jack made an offer that the first one who told them what they needed to know would be set free. Deputy Clyde took the offer and told them everything he knew. When he was done, he said that he told them everything he knew and now they have to keep their word. Jack does not release him, and states that he will be set free, but Jack didn't say where! Clearly, the intention is to put them in prison where they belong! Deputy Clyde was unhappy, and he mouthed off some racist remarks at Harry Wong, resulting in him being knocked out.
Live-Action TV[]
- Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mike points out Pearl Forrester promised that she wouldn't make them watch any more bad movies if he and the 'bots helped him.
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Pearl: (thoughtfully) You know, I think I lie because I'm evil. |
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- Of course, Mike and the robots knew she would break her word, and helped her because it benefited them (Servo told Mike, "I don't want to have to see you in a toga.")
- Earlier in the series, Forrester and Erhardt would respond to Joel's accusation of lying with, "What do you want from us? WE'RE EVIL!"
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent: In the pilot episode, Goren says this to the girlfriend of the episode's Big Bad to prove he's not above breaking the rules to serve the law.
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Gia: (to her boyfriend) We're already dead. You killed us. |
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- Red Dwarf, episode Justice: Lister and the Simulant agree to come unarmed to "talk":
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Simulant: Guess what? (Pulls out hunting knife.) I lied. |
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- Lost's Ben Linus should have this printed on a t-shirt.
- Also said by Sun Kwon after silencing Ben himself with an oar to the head.
- From the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas special "The Next Doctor":
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Miss Hartigan: But you said I would never be converted! |
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- Rule 1: The Doctor Lies
- River and Amy in "The Time of Angels".
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River: This won't hurt a bit. (Injects Amy, who cringes) There, you see? I lied. |
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- Used by the villain in the first episode of My Own Worst Enemy:
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Henry: We had a deal. I get you Fainburg's marbles, you leave my family alone! |
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- This, however, was an act. His alter-ego Edward anticipated the betrayal and coached Henry on what to do and say.
- Supernatural's Dean Winchester is trying frantically to save his daddy when he gets stonewalled by a demon. He tortures her, bargains for information, then sends her back to burn in hell with this trope.
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Meg: You son of a bitch, you promised. |
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- The West Wing features Arnie Vinick pulling one in response to having been caught lying to the religious Right. His secretary yanks the rug out from under him.
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Vinick: Are you finished? |
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- Scrubs — After J.D protests at not being invited to the christening of one of Dr Cox's kids...
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Doctor Cox: Of course you're coming. In fact I want you to be the baby's God Father |
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- In an earlier episode, the Janitor offers to drive J.D to his then-girlfriend Molly the night before she's due to leave...and dumps him on the highway instead. "It's been four years. How do you not get how this works yet?"
- Heroes
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(Matt traps Sylar in his own mind) |
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- Used in the X-Files episode "Shadows", though not in a sinister way. Mulder lies to the doctors who called him, saying he can't help them, as he's never seen anything like their case before. He was lying, though given that the team that requested his help were stingy on the details, it was more of a snarky revenge.
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Scully: You lied. You have seen this before, I can tell. You lied to them. |
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- In the CSI:NY episode Point of no Return, Stella promises George Kolovos that she won't send him to Cyprus (where he's a wanted criminal) in a shipping container if he gives up his partner Sebastian Diakos. He does...and she locks him in the container anyway.
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Kolovos: Wait, we had a deal! |
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- Heroic example from Star Trek Enterprise.
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Klingon General: You were supposed to be creating Augments! |
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- Another (mostly) heroic version; Brenda Johnson of The Closer often lies to her suspects about all the crimes they're being charged with until after she's gotten their confession, but in a Season 6 episode she actually says the trope title. She tells the perp that his drive-by shooting didn't hurt anyone, but if he confessed to the crime and explained why he tried to have the target killed, the LAPD wouldn't arrest him for the property damage caused by the shooting. He confesses, she reveals that three US Army soldiers were killed, and that he'd be getting the death penalty. Her "I lied" when he shouted that she said nobody was injured was positively gloating.
- On one episode of Frasier Martin tries to trick Niles into signing a document so that he won't have to go get a physical, by having a cop friend of his pull them over and offer to flash his badge and get him out of the ticket only if he signed. After Niles apparently does so Martin says, "I lied," and explains the ruse to him. Niles responds, "I lied. I just drew you a picture of a dog."
- During the Community pilot Britta promises Jeff a date if he'll stop the fighting he started. After Jeff uses his manipulative bastardry to calm the group down, she uses these words exactly.
- Played extremely straight by the Burn Notice episode No Good Deed. Quoth the villain of the week, Eve, "Remember that part about me letting you live if you helped me rip off my buyer? I Lied." (Of course, Westen, being Genre Savvy, had never actually believed her; he was just buying time for Fiona to put together a rescue.)
- "I told you you shouldn't trust me."
Newspaper Comics[]
- Peanuts. Lucy and that damned football. No matter how many times she promises Charlie Brown that this time she'll let him kick it, she will ALWAYS yank it away just to humiliate him yet again.
Professional Wrestling[]
- In an example of an actual good guy doing this, WWE's Eddie Guerrero (RIP) would do this all the time as part of his "lie, cheat, steal" gimmick. Usually he would enter into a match with a Heel, promising not to cheat during the match. Then, when he won as a result of cheating and was called out on it, he would shout to his opponent, "I lied, homes!" causing the audience to roar with approval.
- This trope would also be played with when he teamed up with his nephew Chavo Guerrero. He'd tell him, "We may lie, cheat and steal, but at least we're honest about it!"
- On Night of Champions 2010, Chris Jericho participated in a Six-man elimination match for the WWE Championship with a personal promise that, should he fail to win, he will leave WWE for good. Naturally, when he quickly lost during the match, the 'net was in an uproar since that was not the way for someone as popular as Jericho to go... then he appeared on the next episode on WWE Raw with this little message on his Twitter account.
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Chris Jericho: Hey Internet... I'm a Heel. Heels lie, therefore if I say something boastfully and renege on it, it's not an official stipulation. Smarten up! |
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Tabletop Games[]
- There's a card in the CCG Illuminati: New World Order that's called "I Lied." If you make an otherwise binding deal, then play that card, the other player has to keep his end of the bargain but you don't.
- According to legend, the first ever official tournament was won when, after a long and grueling final game, one of the finalists convinced the other to throw the game in return for half the prize money, then played this card. The judges ruled it was perfectly legal and keeping with the spirit of the game and declared that player the winner, over the protests of his opponent.
Videogames[]
- Starcraft: Brood War, and the main reason Kerrigan really works as a villain.
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Mengsk: Kerrigan, you murdering bitch! We had a deal! |
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- Shows up in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. after Starkiller gathers the leaders of the soon-to-be Rebel Alliance in an attempt to distract the Emperor long enough for him and Vader to stage a coup, Vader himself crashes the party and tells his "apprentice" that the whole coup plan was a ploy to get all the rebels in one place and capture them in one swoop.
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Starkiller: You told me you'd stay away! |
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- It's just a bad idea to believe Vader — he may tell the truth in broad statements, but he's not good with promises. Even when he'd be better off keeping his word. As was the case in this scenario.
- Also shows up in the dark side ending of the sequel:
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Vader: I lied when I said the cloning process was not yet perfected. |
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- Caulder/Stolos employs this in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin in response to The Mayor's protests that the former promised the civilians food, supplies and a cure to The Virus they're infected with if they handed over Isabella/Catleia. He then tops it off by revealing that the medicine sample he'd just handed over to the Mayor as a gesture of goodwill (which he'd immediately taken), well:
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Caulder: Oh, and that medicine you took was not the antidote. Hello? Can you hear me? Mr. Mayor? ...Fascinating. |
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- After an "unsupervised" test early in Portal, GLaDOS admits that she lied about it being unsupervised. Then she promises to stop
lyingenhancing the truth "in three... two... (static)" - A villain ends up on the wrong end of this from The Man Behind the Man in Last Scenario:
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"I trusted you!" |
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- In Baroque, the Coffin Man pulls a decidedly non-villainous one of these on the protagonist (and the player). In one of his Tutorial Dungeons, after teaching you the basics of combat, he announces that there are a whole lot of tough Meta-Beings on the next floor, so you'd better be prepared! Once you descend to the next floor, you find it empty, and the Coffin Man laughingly says, "I'm a liar."
- Professor Layton and the Unwound Future features Dimitri Allen's picross map. He gave it to Layton, telling him that the map, when marked, showed the location of the infrared sensors he rigged the building with. However, after solving the picross map, turning the map 180 degrees reveals that all you did was spell LIE upside down.
- The European version (...and the Lost Future) has a slightly different puzzle, but the effect is the same. Dimitri claims to have set bombs in the Thames Arms, and gives you the map and challenges you to find them before they go off. The locations of the alleged "bombs" spell out exactly how much time you have left: infinity.
- In Tales of Symphonia, Zelos ends up uttering a variant of the line when he takes a Face Heel Turn and betrays the party to Yggdrassil during the climax. In all but one of the endings, the line gets a reprise when it turned out he was a Fake Defector and betrays Yggdrassil to the party's benefit.
- In a subversion, Lloyd utters this exact line to Colette for an entirely different reason using coffee. He gives her a cup of coffee, which she assumes to be hot, and then says he had Genis make iced coffee, making her note that it's cold. By falling for his lie and changing what she had said, Colette confirms she has lost her sense of touch.
- Dragon Age II has an unusual Anti-Hero example in Fenris, who promises a magister that he'll let her go if she tells him where his long-lost sister is. She tells him — then Fenris reaches into her chest and crushes her heart.
- On Lilly's route of Katawa Shoujo, when Hisao finds out he did poorly on an English test, Emi offers to show him her results. The two agree to show their results on the count of three, only for Hisao to renege on his promise.
Webcomics[]
- Featured here in Casey and Andy... stated by Quantum Cop, a virtual embodiment of law and order. Apparently, all that time spent hanging out with Mad Scientists and a Gentle(wo)man Thief has taught him a thing or two.
- "What? I'm evil. I lied." is a Running Gag/Catch Phrase for most of the villains in Bob and George.
- In Eight Bit Theater, when confronted with Chaos, Red Mage asks to have some time to prepare for their battle, in order to stall. He tells them to take as much time as they need. Then he adds, "As long as it only takes 24 hours." When Red Mage questions this, he responds "I'm Chaos!"
- Not long before this, Black Mage gets his own moment.
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"Remember the Castle of Ordeals? And how we had to defeat our tragic flaws to become heroes of legend? I didn't defeat mine. I did this..." [Cue spectacular black tendril murder.] |
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"The super villain lied... Oh it can't be so, be still my heart." |
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- Gabriel to his son
- Darken has the Villain Protagonist do it.
- This happens in Exterminatus Now
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Chameleon: (to his men) Kill them all. |
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Web Original[]
- Cautionary Tales Of Swords relies heavily on this, also called "Oh shit, I lied!"
- Dr. Insano gets his own variation of Darth Vader's classic example in Kickassia. Of course, he's a Card-Carrying Villain with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, so nobody's too surprised. After seemingly defeating N. Bison, he tries to turn Kickassia into Insania. While he's distracted by all his double-crossing, his opponent turns out to be Not Quite Dead.
- There is an ongoing ragecomic series with a Dastardly Whiplash saying "I Lied". On its way to becoming a Discredited Meme, though.
- Action Bunnies "Why do you keep believing me!"
- Cracked: 5 Horrifying Food Additives You've Probably Eaten Today: "Oh, and that thing we said about how we'd stop mentioning that you eat bugs? We totally lied."
Western Animation[]
- Heard in Batman Beyond's first season finale. After trapping dear old radioactive Daddy, his son Paxton delivers with particularly exaggerated suaveness:
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Batman (Terry): No. I wouldn't have agreed to this; you said you were going to help him. |
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- X-Men: The Animated Series
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Deathbird: You promised to destroy Lilandra! |
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Beast Boy: I thought you said you didn't have superpowers. |
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- From Ben 10 Alien Force, Mike Darkstar.
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"I can't be trusted." |
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- And in Ben 10 Ultimate Alien:
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Aggregor: I lied. |
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- And from the original series, when a friendly (Petrosapien) alien gives Ben his hoverboard before departing.
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Ben: Hold on. I thought you said you needed this to get off the planet. |
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- New Batman Adventures.
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Commissioner Gordon: We had a deal! |
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- The New Adventures Of He Man
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Werban: You spoke of peace! You lied! |
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- Skeletor also pulls this one in the 2002 He Man and The Masters of The Universe show; after telling He-Man he would give him the captive King Randor if He-Man let him go... "Oh, and He-Man? I lied'!"
- Transformers Generation 1: The episode "The Burden Hardest To Bear"
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Ancient Autobot spirits: Return the Matrix! |
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Isaac Sumdac: Decepticons? But, you told me you were an Autobot. |
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- In The Fairly Odd Parents, we have Dark Laser.
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"There's one thing I forgot to mention about the dark side: you can lie your evil butt off!" |
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- And Anti-Cosmo.
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Professor Calamitous: "You said you'd help me! You lied!" |
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- Jackie Chan Adventures: "Scout's Honor." "Like I was ever a scout."
- Also..
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"But, brother of darkness, we had an arrangement!" |
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- Total Drama Island has a few "I Lied" moments. There's this exchange, when Eva and Izzy are brought back into the game:
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- And this exchange:
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Lindsay: But we were going to the final three together! |
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- And a variation:
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Chris: Back in episode 8, teammate Beth stole the Boney Island tiki doll. |
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- On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Lucius does this to his father twice in one episode, when he promises to let him stay unfrozen.
- This is done CONSTANTLY on all three of the Sonic the Hedgehog shows that Di C made. Dr. Robotnik constantly makes deal after deal with Sonic and the blue guy always seems to fall for it. It doesn't matter because Sonic always ends up thwarting his plans anyway.
- Voltron Legendary Defender: In a desperate attempt to save Earth from Sendak, Admiral Sanda decides to sell out the five Voltron pilots to the Galra commander, as he said that he would leave Earth be if the Voltrons were given to him. However, it turns out that he had no intention to give Earth a chance to be saved, and prepares to destroy the planet regardless.
- Said by Guiterrez in Freakazoid! When given what he wants, he orders his guards to eliminate Dexter, his family, and Roddy. He doesn't even let Roddy say more than "But you said-"
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
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Zuko: You lied to me! |
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- The Simpsons: From "The Bart Wants what it Wants":
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Ranier Wolfcastle (to a pie): "Remember when I said I'd eat you last? I lied!" |
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- Also this in the Tracy Ullman shorts:
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Bart: Family thearpy? What the hell is this? |
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- The Incredible Hulk (the 90s cartoon)
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Gargoyle: You promised me Banner would remain alive long enough to change me back — (laser to the shoulder) |
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- Megas XLR has two, both played straight and subverted:
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Warlock: "Dear, sweet Kiva. I promised I'd let them go. The rest is up to them." |
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- Danny Phantom, "Reality Trip"
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Danny: You lied to me. |
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Real Life[]
- Adolf Hitler got away with this an amazing number of times. "Did I promise my stormtroopers power, respect, and a decent income? Nah, just kidding, I'll kill them when they're no longer useful to me. Did I say I won't re-militarize the Rhineland? I lied. Did I say I'll stop asking for more land after I get Austria? I lied. Did I say I'll leave the Czechs alone if they just give me the Sudetenland? I lied. Did I say I wouldn't invade the Soviet Union? I can't believe you people are still falling for this!" As late as 1941, Josef Stalin was shocked that Hitler broke his promise of peace with the Soviet Union and launched a massive invasion. Shocked! After Hitler had written extensively about invading Russia in Mein Kampf, and after he had broken every other peace agreement he ever made...
- Hitler didn't make every agreement intending to break it, he just broke them anyway. In the Stormtrooper example, for instance, he wasn't technically "lying" in the sense that he had intended to honour the promise when he made it, but a combination of his own paranoia, the need to get the Army on-side, and the fact that the Stormtroopers were rapidly alienating most of the German people with their loutishness and radicalism led him to go back on it later. For some reason people seem to see Hitler as a planner, right down to the most excessive detail — he wasn't. He had ideas, but most of his foreign policy was made essentially off-the-cuff — it was this recklessness in decision making (the fates of nations or the movements of troops would be decided in five minutes between courses at lunch) that led to him making several serious blunders.
- Also, the historical record indicates that both Stalin and Hitler were planning to betray each other. Stalin wasn't so much shocked that Hitler would betray him (believing that Hitler would eventually invade in 1942) but more that he would do it while still at war with the British and earlier than he expected.
- Betray each other is slightly too strong, at least for the Soviets. It would be more accurate to say that the Soviet Union wished to pursue foreign policy goals that would be contrary to German interests — such as securing a seaport in the Eastern Mediterranean and gobbling up the Baltic states, whilst still maintaining normal, if not necessarily friendly, relations with the Third Reich.
- Let's not forget what Josef Goebbels stated: "The principle and which is quite true in itself & that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily." In short, "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed."
- Then-Attorney General of Louisiana Jack Gremillion was walking by the governor's office when he recognized a contingent from Pearl River waiting to see then-Governor Huey Long. Gremillion went into Long's office. "Governor, those people from Pearl River who you had me promise a road to are here." "What the hell road are you talking about?" asked Long. Gremillion reminded Long that he had specifically ordered him to promise the Pearl River folk a road during the recent campaign. "Hell, I don't have time for them. Send them away." Gremillion pleaded, "But Governor, what can I tell them?" "Tell 'em I lied!"
- Quoth George HW Bush: "Read my lips: NO NEW TAXES."
Some time after the quote, he got a bill that would have fulfilled one of his other promises, but would've increased taxes. He was forced to break one or the other, and either choice would've cost him the re-election. Nevertheless, any politician worth his salt should realize that he can't know what crisis might occur during his or her term of service, let alone what steps might be necessary to resolve it. A promise as grand as "no new taxes" is unreasonable, and a politician who makes such a promise is playing on the voters' naivete. It may not be strictly malicious, but it's disingenuous to call it anything other than a lie. - Newt Gingrich mentions this in the context of the trial of a terrorist, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan, who had placed a car bomb in Time Square. Asked how he could do what he did after taking the oath to uphold the US Constitution, he simply answered: "You are my enemy. I lied."
- This is pretty much North Korea's entire diplomatic strategy.
- And domestic policy.
- In April 10, despite Bashar al-Assad's repeated promise to ceasefire on attacks across the country to suppress uprising and desire for political reform to United Nations envoy Kofi Annan, who hoped for a six-point peace plan for country, the Syrian president did not pull his troops and heavy equipment out of towns and cities which still continued to assault protestors.