Dictionary

Xanatos gambit en · NOUN

Etymology

Coined on TV Tropes in reference to the character David Xanatos from Gargoyles, who is depicted as a criminal mastermind who often claims victory after his apparent defeat.

Meanings

1. (slang) A subtle plan (usually villainous) that cannot be foiled, such that attempts to defeat it actually further its creator's goals.
   • It strikes me, as it no doubt has struck many of you, that this strategy is cynical. What may not have struck you is how cynical, how much of a Xanatos Gambit, this game their playing really is. 2011 June 29, “Their Xanatos Gambit”, in Daily Kos:
   • "How do we know this isn't part of some elaborate Xanatos Gambit?" I left off staring at the traffic. "Some elaborate what?" "Some sort of complicated scheme. I mean, how do we know this isn't all exactly what she wants us to do?" 2018 October 2, S. L. Huang, Zero Sum Game, Tor Books, →ISBN:
   • Beale can insist that he brilliantly put Hugo voters in the jaws of a Xanatos Gambit whereby every choice is a losing move[…] 2017 December 10, Elizabeth Sandifer, Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right, Elizabeth Sandifer, →ISBN:

Forms

Relateds

heads I win, tails you lose · Kobayashi Maru

wikipedia: Gargoyles (TV series) · wikipedia: TV Tropes · wikipedia: David Xanatos