Challenging the Chief: Difference between revisions

A society has a ritual challenge system that determines who's strong enough to be the leader.

 

 

You'll also get wider variations on the effect on the plot. For instance, in a case which has shades of [[You Kill It, You Bought It]], it may be an outsider, often [[Mighty Whitey]], becomes chief of a community by winning a duel against the previous chief, or just by killing them without knowing about the tradition. This will tend to pop up at the beginning to generate a plot or find a way to get a character into a society that should, by logic, wish to kill him on sight.

 

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* In ''[[Bleach]]'', Kenpachi Zaraki gained his position as Captain of Squad 11 by walking in and killing the last captain; Shinigami rule states that this works if done in front of 200 witnesses. This is apparently the normal method of transferring leadership in the Eleventh Division, the winner not only gaining a Captain's rank but also the hereditary title of "Kenpachi".

 

* Played with in the Marvel ''[[Transformers]]'' comic. Shockwave retains leadership of the Decepticons by kicking Megatron's ass; however, Shockwave clearly didn't want to fight, because he's all about logic (which to him is "whatever will achieve the best outcome") and the Decepticons were at the time under danger from the outnumbered and wounded Autobots.

* In ''[[Fables]]'', [[The Jungle Book (novel)|Mowgli]] finds a wolf pack who might know where to find the missing [[Big Badass Wolf|Bigby]]. The wolves won't talk, so he challenges the alpha male for leadership. It works.

* ''[[Asterix]] and the Big Fight'': in order to destroy Asterix's village, the Romans call a [[Les Collaborateurs|Roman-loving]] Gaul chief to fight Vitalstatistix, using the fact that the druid Getafix is currently neutralized. Vitalstatistix manages to win without the magic potion by running around the ring and eventually punching the exhausted adversary - but he refuses to take control of his village, who then go to Gallo-Roman to regular Gaul.

 

* ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]] II'' had the "challenge the leader to stop the army" version down to a pat.

* ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]'' has the "[[You Kill It, You Bought It|You keep what you kill]]" principle embedded in Necromonger religion which leads to this trope occurring for Riddick.

* In ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]] 2000'', the [[Big Bad]] Tyler kills the king of a tribe of lizard people and takes his place as their leader.

* ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]''. Sorta. When The Beast {{spoiler|breaks Brother Sum's neck}}, he apparently becomes the leader of the Axe Gang but it's more the fact that the gang is not averse to following the lead of someone who can kill them all with his slippers. However the old boss apparently defeated an entire gang just by killing the leader so maybe it is part of an established trend.

 

* ''[[Dune]]'' follows the trope but subverts its usage. {{spoiler|Paul Atreides refuses to face Stilgar, the chief of the Fremen sietch Paul belonged to, in ritual combat because they both knew Paul would win and Paul wanted Stilgar to remain chief of the sietch as Paul went to war for the whole planet Arrakis.}}

* In ''[[Nation]]'' this is how the cannibalistic Raiders work. The villain of the piece ends up in charge of them via the "outsider becomes chief" route and since it's a [[Alternate History]] 1860s setting, he feels like it's a natural result of being [[Mighty Whitey]]. However this then bites him in the butt when the hero uses the rule for the "fight the leader, stop the horde" method.

* The easiest way to get a [[Cool Sword|Shardblade]] in ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'' is to [[Duel to the Death]] for it. And since Shardblades are so valuable, most Shardbearers are the people in charge.

 

* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', episode ''Tacking Into The Wind'', where the new Chancellor from TNG ''Reunion'', Gowron, is screwing things up during the Dominion War, mismanaging the Klingon battle efforts to humiliate and disgrace the popular General Martok (who he fears will challenge him for leadership). In truth, Martok is too honorable and loyal to the Empire to even consider trying to take control for himself. After some harsh truths from Dax about Klingon politics, Worf realizes that SOMEONE has to challenge Gowron on honorable grounds (such as calling him on intentionally mismanaging the war out of fear for losing his position). {{spoiler|Worf does challenge him, wins, becomes the next Chancellor, but almost immediately passes the torch to the most honorable and capable Klingon he knows (as well as his friend and mentor), General Martok}}.

** Strangely, this is not the first time that Worf determined who would be Chancellor of the High Council of the Klingon Empire. The reason Gowron became Chancellor in the first place was because Worf killed Gowron's rival Duras in a duel over a totally unrelated matter, making Gowron the winner by default. He also resolves the issue of how the government is to be run when the clone of Emperor Kahless comes forward. Strangely, nobody seems to realize that the most important thing one must have in order to get ahead in Klingon politics is the approval of Worf.

** It's also unusual in that this is a heavily male-dominated society (women are considered property and must never show their faces). For a woman to challenge a man ''and'' beat him. It's unheard of.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''Ghost Light'', the villainous Josiah plans to murder Queen Victoria under the delusion that the British monarchy works like this.

 

* The Sabbat of ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' had this in place for certain positions in their power structure. The Storyteller was encouraged add whatever arcane stipulations or requirements he saw fit, in order to emphasize how unorganized the Sabbat was (the sample: "You can't challenge the Archbishop now - it's not the third night after the new moon!").

* Garou society in ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' works like this. Their code of laws states that "any leader may be challenged in a state of peace" but that "no leader may be challenged in a time of war." Naturally, many leaders try to declare a perpetual state of war after defeating their predecessor.

** ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' has in its backstory that the children of Father Wolf eventually challenged and slew him for his role as protector of the world. This had ''serious'' repercussions.

 

* Joked about in the sixth ''[[Touhou]]'' game when [[Cute Witch]] Marisa asks [[Ninja Maid]] Sakuya whether the position of Chief Maid works like this. It doesn't.

* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction]]'' {{spoiler|Ratchet inadvertently becomes the new Space Pirate Captain after defeating Captain Slag. However, at the end of the game, it is hinted Rachet then gave the title to Captain Qwark.}}

* In ''[[Morrowind]]'', this is the only way to become head of several factions (though ''not'' the [[Murder, Inc.|Morag Tong]], strangely enough).

** In most of the cases where it is necessary, the rules of the faction does not actually require it, providing for alternate ways... that the actions or attitude of the chief in question makes unfeasible. The Morag Tong inverts that: this trope is how it is ''supposed'' to be, but the leader is quite happy with just stepping down.

 

** Subverted in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0149.html this strip] of ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''.

** Also invoked by the end of the Azure City Siegue, when Redcloak accepts the challenge of the Azurites' head priest for one-on-one combat.

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' villain Frans Rayner at one point intends to "kill the President, thereby ''becoming'' the President." He doesn't seem to care that it doesn't actually work that way, stating that he'll convince people that it does.

* In ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'', this is how the Ninja Mafia works - at least, this is how it works if you kill the ''entire'' Ruling Council (so none of the official successors are left alive). Sam, as the only survivor of the murder of the previous Ruling Council ({{spoiler|although it was actually his ex-girlfriend who did this, killing herself in the process}}), is therefore considered the rightful Ninja Emperor - and becomes the focus of all the plotting that comes with it.

* Played for laughs in [http://nonadventures.com/2007/01/06/various-aged-regular-ninja-persons/ this] ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'' strip.

* In ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'', Frank Mangle challenges R.L. as CEO of Herdthinners Inc. Then Kell breaks the fight up before someone gets killed, and this is interpreted as her defeating ''both'' of them, [[Dark Horse Victory|so she gets made CEO]].

 

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', with Fry challenging the leader of a post-apocalyptic society of children to what is essentially a skateboard race. {{spoiler|His victory over a small child is denigrated further by the revelation that the society is in fact a LA creche.}}

* Happens in an episode of [[Justice League]] where Superman is transported to the distant future. After being attacked by a pack of mutant wolves, he challenges their alpha, and is next seen using the wolves like sled dogs and wearing the alpha's hide like a cape.

'''Archer:''' The code says it's a one-on-one fight, it doesn't say anything about unarmed combat.

'''Pirate:''' ''(glancing at the code)'' Well, it's implied! }}

 

* "Champion of the world" titles in professional boxing pretty much work this way. The current champ retains the title until they are beaten, at which time they relinquish it to whoever did the deed. In fact, historical lists of boxing champions often mention the number of times each champion averted this trope.

* Arguably elections are a more civilized version of this

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]