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{{quote|''A courier came to the battle once bloody and loud''
''And found only skin and bones where he once left a crowd''
|'''Remember the Alamo'''}}
You, an unimportant background character, need something delivered to or across a barren wasteland, deadly jungle, or simply a [[Wretched Hive|dangerous urban environment]]. The internet, phone, or regular mail service isn't going to cut it. You're going to need something special. And what is that something special?
Why, it's the local '''Courier'''! A
Since it's a romantic spy type of job that still allows [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism|cynicism]] with money, combined with the fact that it's an easy way to bring characters to new places or into contact with interesting people, it's ripe for protagonist-hood, but this is not always the case. Can often turn up even in futuristic settings where you'd imagine advanced technology would make human
See [[Pony Express Rider]] for the mounted variety and [[Unstoppable Mailman]] for the government-employee version. May involve [[Deadly Delivery]], [[Shoot the Messenger]] or [[You Got Murder]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[GetBackers]]'' mixes in super powers and takes it to the logical extreme.
* This is basically Celty's job on ''[[Durarara!!]]''.
* The crew of the ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' call themselves couriers. Smugglers, pirates, and mercenaries would also fit.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* The subject of the story "The Courier" in ''[[Flight (comics)|Flight]]'' volume five, by [[Kazu Kibuishi]].
== [[Film]] ==
* The protagonist of the ''[[The Transporter]]'' series of films.
* ''[[Final Fantasy
* A
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[Johnny Mnemonic]]'' may be the [[Trope Maker]].{{context|reason=The word 'courier' is Older Than Radio. Please explain.}}
* ''[[Snow Crash]]''
* Chevette Washington, the protagonist in [[William Gibson]]'s ''Virtual Light''
* The main character in ''[[The City of Ember]]'' is excited about being a messenger in the city.
* The cover story for Miles [[Vorkosigan Saga|Vorkosigan]] as opposed to his real job as head of the Dendarii. A mistake during the rescue of a ''real'' courier is what eventually ends his military career.
* In [[Umberto Eco]]'s ''Loana'', the protagonist remembers reading a fascist children's book about a hero trying to smuggle an important message to Italy's then-colony
* Matty from ''Messenger'' by Lois Lowry pretty much embodies this trope, minus the money-making aspect (though he does crave the admiration and prestige that comes with doing a dangerous job).
* In [[The Company Novels]] book ''Black Projects, White Knights,'' Kalugin has a run-in with a brain-damaged immortal ''literally'' named Courier, who goes berserk if he spends the night in one place for more than one night in a row.
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* In the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' series, apprentices play this role during the battle against the Dark Forest cats - traveling through a battle-filled forest where any enemy will kill them on sight so that the Clans can send messages to each other on the status of their warriors.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The job of half the cast of ''[[Dark Angel]]''. It's a bike messaging service called Jam Pony that pays minimum wage and has high turnover. Max and Alec particularly like the free sector passes and opportunity to case joints.
* While it's just a throwaway gag, Vince in ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]''' [[The Magazine Rule|subscribes to hyper-cutting-edge fashion magazine]] ''Cheekbone'', which has to be delivered by [[ninja]]s to avoid being obsolete by the time it's read.
* Because of the way [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]] works in ''[[Andromeda]]'', messages have to be relayed by couriers, so courier ships are a common sight.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'': Runners sometimes get hired to do a courier job. One memorable one was to deliver a dragon's egg.
*
* ''[[Dying Earth]]'' RPG supplement ''Scaum Valley Gazetteer''. The River Skaters use ice skates to carry messages along the frozen Scaum River during winter.
* ''[[Traveller]]'': Justified in that [[FTL]] communications are not possible so messages have to be carried through jump space on a starship before being delivered.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Mirror's
* ''[[
* ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'': Vent and Aille are couriering the Biometals when they activate.
* The protagonist of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' ''is'' The Courier. And the plot revolves around [[MacGuffin|the package (s)he's carrying]].
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* An item in ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'' gives you an animal courier that can deliver items to and from your team and your base. Unsurprisingly, it is a prime target of the other team.
* In ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' the series of hidden missions at the end of the game has Marsten pretending to be one.
* In ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'', Bumblebee is acting as a courier because the communications in Iacon City aren't safe from the Decepticons. Ironically, the one he's trying to get a message to (Optimus Prime) is the one that saves him from a Deception ambush. The message he's delivering (that {{spoiler|Zeta Prime is assumed dead}}) is disturbing emough that Optimus decides to step up and take "temporary" command of the Autobots.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Get Ed]]'' is about a whole team of these.
* The British Queen's Messenger Service is responsible for carrying diplomatic mail. Which can mean anything from, "Call off the plan to assassinate Hitler-He's winning the war for us", to "Can you ''please'' send me a better selection of liquor?
▲== Real Life ==
* Any major city in the United States (and other countries) has bicycle messengers. While thanks to email and fax they are no longer as numerous as they were in the 1980s (when they were the fastest way to send a document from, say, Wall Street to Midtown in Manhattan), they still survive, carrying packages and other physical objects that can't be sent electronically but need same-day delivery across a city.
▲*The British Queen's Messenger Service is responsible for carrying diplomatic mail. Which can mean anything from, "Call off the plan to assassinate Hitler-He's winning the war for us", to "Can you ''please'' send me a better selection of liquor every other embassy in this town is embarrassing us."
{{reflist}}
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