Dirty Coward: Difference between revisions

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* Mumkhar from ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' should get some sort of award for this, due to the fact that he left his friends to die in the middle of a battlefield just to save his own skin... '''FIVE MINUTES INTO THE GAME!'''

* Mumkhar from ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' should get some sort of award for this, due to the fact that he left his friends to die in the middle of a battlefield just to save his own skin... '''FIVE MINUTES INTO THE GAME!''' {{spoiler|Interestingly, this isn't the case in any of his other appearances. It seems that being transformed into a Faced Mechon caused his sadistic, petty sense of cruelty to override his cowardly tendencies.}}

* The Spathi from ''[[Star Control]]'' are a [[Planet of Hats]] devoted to craven cowardice and borderline paranoia as a way of life. A traditional Spathi prayer goes "Oh God, please don't let me die today! Tomorrow would be so much better", and the entire race lives in fear of a nebulous alien race they refer to (always in the same ominous tone) as "The Ultimate Evil". However, they can and will fight if backed into a corner (and they can fight quite well; the Spathi Eluder is one of the best ships in the game). However, this doesn't stop the Spathi from backing out of their alliance with the "hunams" and sealing their home world beneath an impenetrable force field the first chance they get.

** Yes, the Spathi can fight quite well—mostly because their ships are so fast no one can catch them, and because they pelt anything that ''tries'' to catch them with a hailstorm of [[Fun with Acronyms|Backward Utilizing Tracking Torpedoes]] fired out of the back of the ship as it flees.

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* One of the main reasons [[Prince Charmless]] is one of the [[The Scrappy|least favorite]] ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' characters is that he's both a Dirty Coward ''and'' a [[Jerkass]], and makes you do all the work for him on the one side quest where you're forced to take him along.

* Jerry Ying from the [[John Woo]] game ''[[Stranglehold]]'' after his [[Face Heel Turn]].

* Porky from ''[[EarthBound]]''. His [[Establishing Character Moment]] is ditching his little brother at night, forcing Ness to help look for him, and then hiding behind Ness and contributing absolutely nothing to every single battle between leaving Ness' house to fighting the Starman that chased after Buzz Buzz. He gets crueler and nastier as the game goes on, but not a single bit braver: even as {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Giygas]]'s [[The Dragon|Dragon]], he abandons his master to fight Ness and friends after proving that they're more than a match for him.}}

* Porky from ''[[EarthBound]]''.

** There's also the man in the tent in Threed, who abandoned his wife and children to the zombies. He doesn't seem to understand why they're angry with him.

* Goblins, the weakest unit of the Stronghold Faction in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V: Tribes of the East''. In game play, their cowardice causes them to run away from their attackers instead of retaliating. If enough of the stack is killed, they actually ''defect'' to the other side. Storywise, this attitude earns them a great deal of contempt from the rest of the faction, which primarily consists of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]s. As a result, their "comrades" have no problem with letting their Shamans sacrifice Goblins for mana replenishing rituals or with letting the Cyclops treat Goblins as snacks and ''ammo''.

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{{quote|'''Anub'Arak:''' [[This Cannot Be!|It cannot be...]] Look to your defences, Death Knight! Fight as you have never fought before!}}

** Many generic enemies in ''World of Warcraft'' have a cowardly streak, upon depleting most of their health they will attempt to flee and the message "[enemy] is trying to run away in fear." is displayed. If not controlled or killed they could potentially reach other enemy groups for help resulting in a wipe.

* Patches the Hyena of ''[[Demon's Souls]]'', ''[[Dark Souls]]'', ''[[Bloodborne]]'', ''[[Armored Core: For Answer]]'' (as Patch the Good Luck), and ''[[Elden Ring]]'' fame. No matter the game, he's a slimy, opportunistic little weasel of a man who usually tries to kill you with trickery, and will waste no time begging for mercy once that fails.

* Patches the Hyena of ''[[Demon's Souls]]'', and [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|later]] ''[[Dark Souls]]''.

* Alduin in ''[[Skyrim]]'' turns out to be one of these when faced by someone who can actually hurt him. It's one of the reasons Odahviing agrees to help you pursue ~~him—the~~ other Dragons are no longer certain that Alduin deserves to be their leader.

* Alduin in ''[[Skyrim]]'' turns out to be one of these when faced by someone who can actually hurt him. {{spoiler|It's one of the reasons Odahviing agrees to help you pursue him — the other Dragons are no longer certain that Alduin deserves to be their leader since a true ''dovah'' would fight to the very end.}}

* Alfonso in ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' is established as this in the game's ''opening sequence'': once his ship is attacked by the Blue Rogues, he is more concerned with escaping than fighting and once he secures the means to do so he murders his vice captain in cold blood and tosses the corpse overboard in order to frame the vice captain as a traitor and cover his own ass. Luckily, [[Big Bad|Galcian]] gets a wind of this and Antonio is immediately [[Reassigned to Antarctica]].

* Kai Leng of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' is a particularly unlikable case. He's not above playing dirty tricks on his enemies, and pulls several on Shepard, including calling in a gunship to provide fire support while his shields recharge and using the salarian councilor as a shield. Even worse, he endlessly taunts Shepard when he's out of danger, including sending him an email mocking him about the events on {{spoiler|Thessia}}. In the final battle, Shepard points out that Kai Leng has always ran from him/her, which the latter responds rather ungracefully. When {{spoiler|Shepard shatters/dodges his sword and guts him like a fish}}, you ''will'' cheer.

* [[Donut Mess with a Cop| Kruller]], the ghostly, overweight security guard from ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigi's Mansion 3]]''. Not only does he seem to be more of a coward than Luigi, he doesn't seem to be all-too good at his job, hiding in the security office while Luigi (via the player) is likely looting and vandalizing the Hotel Stores. Not that he's a pushover as a boss, of course.

* [[Donut Mess with a Cop|Kruller]], the ghostly, overweight security guard from ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigi's Mansion 3]]''. Not only does he seem to be more of a coward than Luigi, he doesn't seem to be all-too good at his job, hiding in the security office while Luigi (via the player) is likely looting and vandalizing the Hotel Stores. Not that he's a pushover as a boss, of course.

* BubbleMan's scenario in ''[[MegaMan Battle Network 3]]'' tasks you with chasing the [[Gonk|ugly little guy]] all around the Net, with him refusing to fight you head-on and instead hiding behind a barrier that you can't penetrate without a special item carried by his men, who ''also'' force you to chase them around the net for it. When you actually fight him, he hides in the back row of his half of the battlefield, where he's protected by rocks ''and'' bubbles that constantly pour in from the middle. And once he's beaten, he has the audacity to beg Lan and MegaMan for mercy, only to betray them once they spare him, nearly killing a bunch of innocent people before getting bisected by ProtoMan.

** And his cowardice ends up playing into his appearances as a ghost Navi: if you want to get his V2-V4 battle chips, you need your health to be in the red in order for him to show up as a random encounter in one of the Ocean Area's sub-areas.

* The background lore of ''[[Elden Ring]]'' paints Godrick the Grafted as a gigantic wuss who would sooner hide among civilian women rather than meet his end on the battlefield. Ditto for literally licking the boots of a warrior that he insulted once she started kicking his ass. Interestingly, he doesn't display any cowardice when fighting you, and dies with his dignity intact.

** This seems to be the case for the otherwise enigmatic Pidia. {{spoiler|If he is indeed Seluvis as context clues seem to imply, he uses the man's body as a vessel through which he can act like a smug, nasty little [[Jerkass]] towards everyone he meets, only to play the part of a meek and groveling servant when confronted in person. Whether he truly is Seluvis or not, he ''is'' a creepy rapist who sexually abuses the "puppets" (sex slaves) that Seluvis keeps on hand, and dies pitifully begging his victims for mercy when they attack him after enduring god knows how many years of molestation at his hands.}}

== [[Web Comics]] ==