Arms Dealer: Difference between revisions
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[[File:lord of war 3296.jpg|link=Lord of War|frame|I sell to leftists and rightists. I'd sell to pacifists, but they're not the most regular customers.]]
{{quote|''"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is, how do we arm the other eleven?"''
|'''Yuri Orlov''', ''[[Lord of War]]''}}
▲{{quote|''"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is, how do we arm the other eleven?"''|'''Yuri Orlov''', ''[[Lord of War]]''}}
In its basic form, a person who sells weaponry. This results in a large variety of sub-types of these characters:
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These characters are generally depicted as slimy merchants of death, making money from brutal wars and providing the means to prolong the conflict. They may be inclined to start a [[War for Fun and Profit]], hoping to make money from selling weapons.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Mad Scientist|Jail Scaglietti]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]''. It would be a shame to create all those advances in technology without someone using them after all. His biggest clients are {{spoiler|[[Government Conspiracy|the higher-ups]] of [[The Federation|the Time-Space Administration Bureau]] themselves}}.
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* An Israeli one features in ''[[Charlie Wilson's War|Charlie Wilsons War]]'', played [[Fake Nationality|by Scot Ken Stott]].
* Tony Stark is one of these in ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'', before he sees US forces get attacked with his own weapons and has a change of heart. Even after that, his weapons keep turning up in enemy hands. {{spoiler|Turns out [[Evil Chancellor|Obie]] had been going around behind his back.}}
* Owen Davian, the amoral, passive-aggressive, monotonic arms dealer villain of ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)||Mission Impossible]] 3''. His day job is hooking up terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, and his night job is exuding sociopathic menace. Even when captured, bound, and faced with death, he remains [[Dissonant Serenity|preternaturally calm]] and merely rattles off all the ways he will torture the hero's loved ones <s>if</s> '''when''' he gets free. The only time he shows a hint of fondness is when he aloofly recalls cruelly murdering one of the hero's partners ("That was nothing, that was... ''fun''. That was fun."). His chilling detachment is enhanced by the fact that he has [http://www.reverseshot.com/article/mi3 no backstory or any humanizing moments whatsoever].
* Jeebs in ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]''. He's definitely the slimy sort, handing illegal weapons to alien criminals.
* Brad Whitaker from ''[[The Living Daylights]]'', played by Joe Don Baker. He used to provide weapons to the Soviets until General Pushkin came down to Tangiers and cut him off. Whitaker subsequently asked Koskov to kill Pushkin to provide coverage for his opium smuggling operations. This arms dealer is seen for a very short portion of the movie, instead acting as an [[Armchair Military|armchair general]] who likes to play with toy soldiers.
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* In ''[[The Quick and the Dead]]'', the Kid works a day job as the town's gunsmith.
* In the Serbian film ''[[Underground]]'', Marko and Blacky supposedly act as gun runners for the resistance against the Nazis during World War 2. In reality, they drink and gamble most of the money away. Much later, Marko and Natalija become arms dealers during the Yugoslav wars. {{spoiler|Blacky has them executed as "war profiteers" before realizing who they are.}}
* Both Valentin Zukovsky and the Janus syndicate in ''[[
* Bully Hayes is dealing firearms to the native islanders in the opening of ''[[Nate and Hayes]]''.
* The film ''Strapped'' features the delivery boy Diquan Mitchell getting heavily involved in arms trafficking in the ghetto in a plot to get his pregnant girlfriend out of prison.
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* Chevy Chase and Gregory Hines in ''[[Deal Of The Century]]''.
* There's a slightly unusual gun rurnner in ''[[The Salton Sea]]''.
* In ''[[Casablanca]]'', Rick Blaine was this in Ethiopia and during the Spanish Civil War, according to his [[Backstory]]. Apparently he did it for the cause, although [[Not in This For Your Revolution|he was unwilling to admit it]] and certainly had no problem pocketing the pay he got out of it. He was told, "The winning side would have paid much better" and replied ambiguously. Actually, the winning side would not have paid him at all because they would have been purchasing from reliable arms cartels, not smugglers; while the Ethiopians at least would have needed unconventional sources because they were strapped for cash.
== Fan Works ==
* In the aftermath of the 3rd Harbinger battle in ''[[Aeon Entelechy Evangelion]]'' there were a lot of munitions that didn't explode or were abandoned in the chaos, which the local ghouls scavenge and sell to interested parties like the Eldritch Society.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The [[White Wolf]] collectible card game ''Vampire: The Eternal Struggle'' featured an ally card called Arms Dealer. While in play, the Arms Dealer can take an action to allow the
* Very common in ''[[Shadowrun]]''. Arms dealers are known as 'Fixers' (as in "I can fix you up with something"). Fixers not only deal in arms, but in body armor, black market cyberdecks and programs, and even cybernetic modifications. The Crime Mall is perhaps the most brazen example, actually operating open-to-the-public storefronts out of an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130915132347/http://www.southhillmall.com/home/index.ch2 abandoned shopping mall] in the Puyallup Barrens.
* Several factions function like this at one time or another in ''[[BattleTech]]''. The Free Worlds League and the Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance are both known for it, but the one who really takes the cake is probably Clan Diamond Shark, which despite being part of Battletech's [[Proud Warrior Race]] would much rather sell guns to you than fight you.
* Fairly common in ''[[Inquisitor]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' game lines. ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' also has a system of [[Friend in the Black Market|Contacts]], whose possible abilities include significant discount and/or improved Availability (vs. open market values) for a category of goods — it's one of the most obvious uses. Sure, one Contact (who sits in one place, while your Acolytes may have to travel anywhere across entire Sector) with access to military equipment + 30% discount on ammo and nothing else is worth more XP than good relations with a whole Imperial organization, but given how expensive ammunition for bolters and exotic weapons is...
* In ''[[Rifts]]'' you not only have the Black Market (your standard shady arms dealers) and independent gun shops, but a number of companies such as Wilk's and Northern Gun also sell their wares directly.
== Theatre ==
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*** Though in some ways he (and his bretheren) fall under the heading of {{spoiler|Minister for Defense Export, as they are taking their marching orders direct from The Patriots; in general, their activities let weaker forces keep fighting by allowing them to reuse battlefield salvaged guns, which in turn stretches conflicts and helps fuel the War Economy.}}
*** Coincidentally, the same voice actor also played Smuggler in Deus Ex who is...you guessed it: an arms dealer!
** Additionally, ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops]]'' had "Arms Dealer" as a skill for recruitable characters. They allow you to find more weapons and ammo in levels, and it's extremely useful for the [[Expansion Pack]], where Infinity Mode drops you into levels where [[With This Herring|you don't start with any gear.]]
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'': "Welcome, strayn-jah! Got somethin' that might interest you...."
** He doesn't clearly fit into any of the above classification, and not because he doesn't sell ammo.
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** Although in ''[[Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars]]'', they come back with a mail order delivery service. This helps them get around the gun control laws.
* In ''[[Command & Conquer: Generals]]'' the GLA terrorist faction acquires their vehicles from a Arms Dealer building.
* [[
* ''[[Front Mission]]'': They don't sell guns, they sell [[Real Robot|Wanzers]] and [[King of the Hill|Wanzer Accessories]].
** Justified in 1, it's a place for the wanzer gladiators shopping for 'arms'.
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*** [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|In Singapore]]!
** [[My Friends and Zoidberg|And finally, ordering them from the Internet]], although that last one is implied to be illegal...
* ''[[Wild
* ''[[Far Cry]] 2'' is full of arms dealers. In addition to the Jackal and the player's armorer, there's quite a few other arms dealers who are the targets of various missions. Even some of the playable mercenaries are stated to have histories in gunrunning.
* How could we miss Nasri {{spoiler|and [[Big Bad|Leland]]}} from ''[[Alpha Protocol]]''?
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* The now famous Charlie Wilson was a U.S. congressman who used his own power - he was a member of the appropiations committee (money lenders) for black ops, as well as working with a number of CIA and Special Forces agents - to secure arms for Afghan Guerillas during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
** Even more amazing is the CIA agent he worked with, Gust Avrokatos, and the guys Gust worked with. Gust once remarked of the immense balls of the Deputy Arms Minister of Egypt. Apparently, during a meeting with Gust for weapons to be sold to Israel with money from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia with the intention of Israel handing the weapons to Pakistan who would move them into Afghanistan (yeah), the Deputy Minister was also darting in and out of two other rooms that each smelled strongly of tobacco and hashish. Apparently the minister was making arms deals with the Iranians in the room on the left, Americans in the center room, and Iraqis on the right. This despite the fact that Iran and Iraq were at war, and Egypt's attitude towards America at the time was "we'll write insulting things with our right hands while you pass cash and guns to our left."
***In both the cases of Charlie and Gust that depends on how you define the term. They were [[La Résistance|underground quartermasters]], to be sure, but they were covered by the US government (and whatever other government was involved) and did not need to make a profit to pump their budget. They were dealing in arms so they were "arms-dealers" if you want to make a point but they were purchasers and smugglers not producers and not sellers.
***One of the problems in that operation was that for a long time the CIA was unwilling to introduce American ordinance because they wished to maintain [[Implausible Deniability|the pretense]] that America was not supplying the Afghans. That meant that while fungible cash could be gotten out of Congress, it had to be converted into hardware and transported by all sorts of convoluted and rather colorful means.
* Viktor Bout, a former Red (retired Russian GRU major) with a lot of military stuff for sale. He was supplying weapons to nearly everyone (except for people linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, or so he claims) for fifteen years, until he was arrested in Thailand last year. Nicknamed "The Merchant of Death". Also, the main character of ''Lord of War'', Yuri Orlov, was based on him.
* Norway allegedly has the world's largest export of weapons per capita. Notable because this is also the country with the Nobel Peace Price and a number of people trying to create peace in both the Middle East and South East Asia.
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[[Category:Video Game Characters]]
[[Category:Villains]]
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