The Dragon/Playing With

Basic Trope: The Big Bad's most trusted lieutenant.
 * Straight: General Drake leads Emperor Evulz's armies into battle, and is more willing to get his hands dirty than his boss.
 * Exaggerated: Dragon-in-Chief
 * Justified: Emperor Evulz has terminal cancer, and General Drake was simply the most capable candidate to carry out his will.
 * Or Emperor Evulz and General Drake are friends, and Drake doesn't mind doing the fighting. Or Drake is a mercenary hired just for that purpose. Or Drake believes in Evulz' cause, and volunteers for the job. Etc, etc. This is an easy one to justify, folks.
 * Inverted: The Lancer
 * The Hero, if there is a Big Good to oppose the Big Bad.
 * Subverted: General Drake is hyped up to be on par with Evulz himself, but he's trounced unceremoniously by Chica of the Five-Man Band.
 * Double Subverted: General Drake was faking his defeat, and he promptly sends Chica within an inch of the nearest icebox.
 * Parodied: General Drake is frequently sent down by Emperor Evulz to hassle the Five-Man Band, despite him having a zero percent success rate with the heroes.
 * Deconstructed: General Drake knows that he's number two to a sick and feeble man, and hates every minute of it. Thus, he devotes his spare time to finding a way to put his boss down.
 * Reconstructed: Emperor Evulz brutally reminds him of the status quo whenever Drake decides to plot against him.
 * Evulz kills Drake, and replaces him with a loyal new dragon.
 * Zig Zagged: ???
 * Averted: General Drake appears to fight the hero, but he gets out of town when the heroes face him.
 * Enforced: "We need to stall for time before the heroes face the Ultimate Bad Guy. Let's write this guy in."
 * Lampshaded: "Say hello to General Drake of the Seven Swords. If you expect to meet me in combat, you must face him."
 * Invoked: Emperor Evulz decides to promote the toughest Mook he can find to Curb Stomp Battle our heroes and help him stall for time to activate his sinister scheme.
 * Defied: General Drake's attempt to block our heroes is thwarted when he's brutally tossed off a bridge.
 * Discussed: "Wait. Our trek here was too easy. Isn't this where someone nasty comes before us?"
 * Conversed: "I've noticed a lot of villains have this one guy that does their dirty work."

Back to, my lord.