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Dragon with an Agenda: Difference between revisions
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Most commonly, he and the [[Big Bad]] have a mutually profitable alliance, and the [[Big Bad]] just happens to be more powerful of the two. If he's also influencing the [[Big Bad]]'s plans, then he's at the same time the man in front of the man and [[The Man Behind the Man]]. [[Dragon-in-Chief]] is when [[The Dragon]] is actually the more dangerous of the pair, by a significant margin. It is not unknown for him to have taken on service for his own purposes and fooled the [[Big Bad]] into thinking he's subordinate.
Rather than a straight evil character, he tends to be an [[Anti-Villain]] or an [[Enigmatic Minion]]. Contrast with [[Battle Butler]] and [[Psycho Supporter]], who are often [[The Dragon]] but have the same goal as their master. Unlike [[The Starscream]] or the [[Reliable Traitor]], they are usually at least nominally loyal, and their main agenda doesn't outright conflict with that of their boss. If [[The Dragon]] and the [[Big Bad]] are equal or nearly so, you have a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]. If they outlive the original [[Big Bad]], this type of [[The Dragon|Dragon]] may go on to pursue their own motivations and become a [[Dragon Ascendant]]. Compare/contrast with the similar trope [[Piggybacking On Hitler]]. The equivalent among the hero's allies is [[...Who Needs Enemies?]].
{{examples}}
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* Ichiki from ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' plays [[The Dragon]] to Hattori before she {{spoiler|betrays him for Fuuma}}. It appears that she'd been planning to {{spoiler|dispose of Hattori all along, and was just waiting for him to outlive his usefulness}}.
* Subverted in ''[[Gundam Seed]]''. It's clear from fairly early on that [[General Ripper|Patrick]] [[President Evil|Zala]]'s right-hand man, Rau Le Creuset has his own agenda, though just what it is isn't made clear. Than [[The Reveal]] comes along: he's {{spoiler|an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] who seeks the [[Kill All Humans|annihilation of the entire human race]], and oh, by the by, is the ''real'' [[Big Bad]] of the series, with Patrick as his [[Unwitting Pawn]]}}.
* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Lucifer is initially this clearly having his own motives other than just serving Zeus, but eventually he [[The Paragon Always Rebels|rebels and tries to take everyone he can with him]] leading to a [[The Good,
* ''[[Gundam ZZ]]'''s Glemmy Toto starts out as a [[Villain of the Week]], eventually graduating to a position as [[Big Bad|Haman Khan]]'s right-hand man. While the two of them share the goal of recreating the glory of Zeon, Haman intends to do it herself. Glemmy, on the other hand, seeks to reinstate the Zabi dictatorship, as {{spoiler|represented by himself}}.
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== Fanfic ==
* [[Past Sins (Fanfic)|Past Sins]] has an interesting twist on the concept; the [[Big Bad]] is an extremely [[Reluctant Monster]] forced into the role, where [[The Dragon]] expects an [[Omnicidal Maniac]].
* The ''[[
* In ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'', the Raleka have a completely different agenda than {{spoiler|Brox and Co.}}, but they have to work together to take the Vasyn pieces from the four.
* In ''[[Ponies Make War (Fanfic)|Ponies Make War]]'', Nihilus serves King Titan with the intention of betraying him the moment she secures the Elements of Harmony. [[Big Good|Princess]] [[The Chessmaster|Celestia]] anticipated this from the start, and actually helped to ''encourage'' it.
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* In the ''[[V-2009|2009 V-remake]]'' S1 finale, we find out that {{spoiler|Marcus definitely seems to have an agenda different from Anna's}}.
* In ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' the incorporeal demon Sahjhan tried to use Holtz as his dragon by offering him vengeance against Darla and Angel. However Sahjhan's true goal was actually to either prevent the birth of Connor, Angel and Darla's unborn son, or kill him as a child. Sahjhan quickly grew frustrated with Holtz's focus on punishing the vampires instead of simply killing them as quickly as possible i.e. before Darla gave birth. And then Holtz decided that ''stealing'' Angel's son and raising him as his own would be a more fitting punishment, at which point Sahjhan totally lost control of his ally.
* The Security Chief, who is [[The Dragon|Dragon]] to the War Chief's [[The Big Bad|Big Bad]] in the ''[[
* In ''[[The Wire]]'', it becomes apparent that [[The Dragon|Stringer Bell]] has very different goals from [[Big Bad|Avon]], wanting to use the money from their drug operation to escape the ghetto and become a legitimate businessman. Avon meanwhile wants to protect his reputation and power as a gangster, and will even sacrifice smart business decisions to make war on the streets. {{spoiler|This causes tremendous strain between them that builds until they both betray each other- Avon betraying Stinger to [[Career Killers|Brother Mouzone]], and Stringer informing on Avon to the police. This leads to the downfall of the Barksdale organization}}.
* Alex becomes this for Oversight during season 2 of ''[[Nikita (TV)|Nikita]]''
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* [[Manipulative Bastard|Mastema]] in [[Strange Journey]]. He outright states he hates the [[Council of Angels|Three Wise Men]] and is just doing the job for the chance to ascend to a superior form.
* Recurring villain Wild Dog in the ''[[Time Crisis]]'' series.
* It is revealed midway through ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'' that Cesare, Rodrigo Borgia's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] (and son) is one of these, with plans to conquer all of Europe.
** Which Rodrigo tries to fight, as while the Templars want world domination, they don't want to be ''seen'' doing it. They'd much rather work behind the scenes.
* In [[Might and Magic]] VII, Kastore initially serves as an advisor to King Archibald of Deyja (along with the three other Terrans that followed his lead, but Kastore is the dominant one). Once you've made your choice between Light and Dark, however, it becomes increasingly clear that Kastore is building a power-base of his own (apparently going for a more traditional military-focused necromantic regime, but it turns out it is [[Lost Technology|a bit more complex than that]]), culminating in Archibald evacuating his closest followers to a laboratory off the coast of AvLee and Kastore assuming the throne of Deyja.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance (Roleplay)|The Gamers Alliance]]'', {{spoiler|Ronove}} becomes the closest lieutenant of [[Four
* In the [[That Guy With the Glasses]] world, The Other Guy is the real puppet-master behind the site. The one who everyone thinks is the ineffectual [[Bad Boss]], [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]], is just like that because he's desperate for attention and praise.
* Linksano and Mecha-Kara are ultimately this during the Lord Vyce arc of [[Atop the Fourth Wall]]. In fact, {{spoiler|Linksano defects to the side of the good guys to take Vyce down, while Mecha-Kara was a former [[Big Bad]] who only went along to take out Linkara.}}
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Dragon With An Agenda]]
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