Dragon Their Feet: Difference between revisions

([[The Real Ghostbusters|"I think he's been spending too much time with Ray..."]])

 

 

* This happened with the 5th ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' movie, ''Cooler's Revenge'': when Goku recovers from his injuries and powers up to fight [[Big Bad]] Cooler the force waves throw Cooler's remaining henchman and more or less Dragon Salza into a rock face which he disappears into. He's forgotten until the very end when Cooler is vanquished, when he emerges to try and finish off the exhausted and battered heroes. Until Piccolo blows a hole in him via an offscreen <s> Makkelranko</s> <s> Mallerkasanko</s> <s> Mykillerisdanko</s> ''[[Dragonball Z Abridged|SPECIAL BEAM CANNON.]]''

* Quattro in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]'', though she had an excuse. She was operating the [[Cool Ship]] that was heading to space while [[Big Bad]] Jail Scaglietti was in his [[Elaborate Underground Base]] when Fate came to kick his ass. That, and {{spoiler|she had one of Jail's backup clones implanted in her womb}}, so her not going down with the [[Big Bad]] was what the [[Big Bad]] wanted.

* This was also the case in the [[Soul Eater]] manga. Where one of Arachne's dragons, Giriko, was drugged by the good guys. {{spoiler|Which resulted in him sleeping through the entire invasion of Baba Yaga's Castle and Arachne's Death.}}

* An example of this occurs in the first ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' anime: after Roy is finished with Pride, he exits his lair only to be shot in the eye by Frank Archer, who had been marching slowly into the area. Despite this Pride was not the actual Big Bad, Archer having been the Dragon to another Dragon.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** [[Artificial Limbs|Tee Hee]] has a fight with Bond aboard a train after he kills Kananga in ''[[Live and Let Die (film)|Live and Let Die]]''.

** The trope even follows into the parodies: ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man Of Mystery'' has Random Task infiltrate Austin's hotel room at the end, and at the end of the sequel ''The Spy Who Shagged Me'' Fat Bastard makes a surprise re-appearance ("SURPRISE SURPRISE!")

** It's a dual relationship because of the [[Man Behind the Man]] stuff going on. Sidious is behind everything and is the [[Big Bad]], but Dooku is the one everyone is aware of as the leader of the Separatists. Grievous is the droid army military commander. So while Dooku is technically [[The Dragon]] to Sidious, Grievous is [[The Dragon]] for Dooku.

** Grievous wasn't there to fight for Dooku for the simple reason that he actually ''was'' doing his job by commanding the fleet. It's not Grievous's fault that Dooku couldn't hold two Jedi- or that Palpatine was playing a bigger game.

* From the 2003 ''Zatoichi'' movie, the [[Ronin]] bodyguard Asano waits until after his boss is dead to fight Zatoichi. {{spoiler|[[The Man Behind the Man]] is still out there, but Asano certainly isn't aware of that fact.}} Considering the effort Asano puts into investigating Zatoichi's fighting style and MO, you wonder where he was when Z was carving up an entire mansion full yakuza, including Asano's employers.

** Given Asano's backstory, though, it doesn't seem like he'd shed many tears over the death of his employers- Asano being a samurai, and the Yakuza gang merely successful commoners- and may even be inwardly pleased that someone has released him from his contract without forcing him to dishonour himself. By the end of the film, he seems far more interested in validating himself as a samurai by facing down Zatoichi than by fulfilling his contractual obligations.

* In the first ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', Revolver Ocelot is conspicuously absent for the big smackdown against Liquid Snake....if by 'conspicuously absent' you mean coming down with a case of [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] and running far, far away.

* In the original ''[[Dragon Quest I|Dragon Quest]]'', after defeating the pansy Dragonlord/Dracolord, you literally fight his trained superdragon. The westernized "Dragon Warrior" version of this seems to have [[Woolseyism|realized how silly that is]] and had him [[One-Winged Angel|turn into said dragon instead.]]

** Likewise, in ''Fallout 3'', after destroying the [[Big Bad]] [[President Evil]] and nuking the Enclave's mountain base, the game's final quest has you dealing with [[The Dragon]] and the remaining Enclave soldiers, who've deserted the [[Big Bad]] and holed up inside the Water Purifier facility around which the main plot revolves.

** ''New Vegas'' however, has a possible subversion in that you yourself could be the [[Big Bad]]. Also, the [[Final Boss]] is arguably [[Badass Normal|Legate Lanius]], [[The Dragon]] to Caesar, who by this point is most likely dead and rotten, playing this trope straight.

*** Likewise, for alternative playthroughs aside from the above route. {{spoiler|It's possible to kill President Kimball of the NCR in an assassination before confronting General Oliver if you sided with the Legion or have other reasons for wanting NCR weakened. If Legate Lanius isn't the Final Boss in your game, then the other contender is certainly going to be General Oliver.}}

* ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' has many examples, but the most obvious is in Tactics Ogre. Xaebos plays this role to the Galgastani remnants, whose main leader has either stabbed himself or been sufficiently guillotined off-screen.

* This happens in the "true ending" path of ''[[Contra]]: Hard Corps''. You defeat the [[Big Bad]] at the end of the 2nd to last level. At the beginning of the last level, [[The Dragon]] shows up to fight you. When you point out that his boss is dead, he replies that he doesn't care and just likes fighting.

* In [[Tales of Vesperia]], one could argue that Zagi is at least temporarily the Dragon for every villain except for Cumore and {{spoiler|Alexei}}, who share Yeager as their Dragon. Yeager's Dragon, of course, would be Zagi.

* Used in an odd sort of way in the sixth [[Fire Emblem]] game. Narshen more or less acts as [[Big Bad|Zephiel]]'s second in command, but is sort of a weasel and dies relatively early. However, Zephiel is always being followed by the priestess Idoun, {{spoiler|who ''is'' a literal dragon. After you kill Zephiel (the "normal" ending) you can go on to find that Zephiel was working ''for'' Idoun, but not being commanded by her, making each of them [[The Man Behind the Man]] to the other.}}

** In the seventh Fire Emblem, {{spoiler|either Lloyd or Linus becomes the final boss of the second act, depending on who died first.}}

* This is fairly common in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe, especially in the [[World of Warcraft|MMO]].

** Rend Blackhand was chief lieutenant to Orgrim Doomhammer during the Second War. During the climactic battle which saw the Horde defeated, Rend and his clan were sent to deal with Gul'dan. After a few final skirmishes with the Alliance, Rend and his remaining allies retreated to Blackrock Spire. Decades later, Rend has proclaimed himself the [[The Remnant|Warchief of the Horde]] in opposition to Thrall. However, his battle is doomed to failure and he is little more than a minor lieutenant to Nefarion.

** Kargath Bladefist was a major player in the Second War but remained largely on Draenor. After its destruction and his corruption by fel energy, he declared himself Warchief of the "True Horde". Ultimately, he and the Fel Horde were easily dismantled by heroes.

* As possibly a homage to [[James Bond]], this happens in ''[[No One Lives Forever]]''. ''Three times''. After Kate storms the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] and defeats her [[Arch Enemy]], Volkov, she goes to a quiet Swiss village to contact her superiors, where she's surprised by [[The Baroness]]. After The Baroness is dealt with, it looks like the game is over... until [[The Mole]] shows up and challenges her to a one-on-one shootout because you killed his employer, thus preventing him from getting the big, fat paycheck he worked so hard for. After beating The Mole, ''another'' Mole shows up, and is promptly dealt with in a cutscene after explaining the entire plot of the game.

* As [[The Chessmaster]], Porky of the [[MOTHER]] series has a habit of leaving his dragons around to wreak havoc with the protagonists after he's defeated. {{spoiler|First Giygas, then Claus.}}

* {{spoiler|Olga}} from ''[[Asura's Wrath]] in the true ending. {{spoiler|She gets killed by the [[Bigger Bad]] before she can do anything else, however.}}

* In [[God Hand]], this happens when you beat Belze to find that [[The Dragon]] of the group, Azel, has left for his own plans of world domination, tired of the failings of the demons. {{spoiler|He did not realize Belze made a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to use Azel as a sacrifice to summon Satan, which actually worked.}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

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[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Villains]]