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2025-05-16T12:48:37Z

Examples: this is a rather short article

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{{Short description|Reliance on exact conditions of an agreement}}
{{Wiktionary|quibble}}
In fiction, a '''quibble''' is a [[plot device]] used to fulfill the exact verbal conditions of an agreement in order to avoid the intended meaning. Typically quibbles are used in legal bargains and, in [[fantasy]], magically enforced ones such as [[prophecies]].<ref name="grant">John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "[https://sf-encyclopedia.com/fe/quibbles Quibbles]" p 796 {{ISBN|0-312-19869-8}}</ref>

== Examples ==

In Christian tales about witchcraft, a [[deal with the Devil|pact with the Devil]] often contains clauses that allow the devil to quibble over what he grants, and equally commonly, the maker of the pact finds a quibble to escape the bargain.<ref name="grant" />

In [[Norse mythology]], [[Loki]], having [[Loki's wager|bet his head]] with [[Brokk]] and lost, forbids Brokk to take any part of his neck, saying he had not bet it; to avenge himself Brokk instead sews Loki's lips shut.<ref name="grant" />

When [[Croesus]] consulted the [[Pythia]], he was told that going to war with [[Cyrus the Great]] would destroy a great empire. Croesus assumed that the seer meant that the Persian Empire would be destroyed and Croesus would triumph. He proceeded to attack the Persians, believing victory was assured. In the end, however, the Persians were victorious, and the empire destroyed was not Cyrus's but Croesus's.

===In literature===
The [[Old Testament]] contains examples of legalistic quibbles. In [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 18, [[Abraham]] gets God to acknowledge that killing many righteous people alongside the sinners in [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]] would be wrong, and then works his way down to sparing the city for the sake of a single righteous one.

[[William Shakespeare]] used a quibble in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''. [[Portia (Merchant of Venice)|Portia]] saves [[Antonio (Merchant of Venice)|Antonio]] in a court of law by pointing out that the agreement called for a [[pound of flesh]], but no blood, and therefore [[Shylock]] can collect only if he sheds no blood, which is not physically possible. He also uses one in ''[[Macbeth]]'' where [[Macbeth (character)|Macbeth]] is killed by [[Macduff (Macbeth)|Macduff]], despite it being prophesied by the [[Three Witches]] that "none of woman born" shall vanquish him, as the latter character was born by [[Caesarean section]]. In a second prophecy, Macbeth is told that he has nothing to fear until Great Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. He feels safe since he knows that forests cannot move, but is overcome when the English army, shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood to hide their numbers, advances on his stronghold at Dunsinane.

When the hero of the [[Child ballad]], ''[[The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward]]'', is forced to trade places with an impostor and swear never to reveal the truth to anyone, he tells his story to a horse while he knows that the heroine is eavesdropping. In the similar [[fairy tale]], ''[[The Goose Girl]]'', the princess pours out her story to an iron stove, unaware that the king is listening.<ref>Maria Tatar, ''The Annotated Brothers Grimm'', p 320 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2003 {{ISBN|0-393-05848-4}}</ref>

In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the prophecy of [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elf]] [[Glorfindel]] states, "not by the hand of man will the [[Witch-king of Angmar]] fall." The Witch-king is slain by [[Éowyn]], a woman, during the battle of the Pelennor Fields, aided by [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]], a male hobbit.<ref name="grant" /> While distracted, Éowyn kills him with a Númenorean blade (created by a long-deceased man), as the Ringwraiths are harmed by such swords.

In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Moving Pictures (novel)|Moving Pictures]]'', a book is said to inflict terrible fates on any man opening it, but causes only mild annoyance to [[The Librarian (Discworld)|the Librarian]], who is in fact an [[orangutan]].<ref name="grant" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative techniques]]

Quibble (plot device) - Revision history

imported>Bkatcher: /* Examples */ this is a rather short article