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{{trope}}
[[File:liquidocelot_848.jpg|link=Metal Gear Solid|right|[[Metal Gear Solid|Behold,]] [[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty|the unequaled]] [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|master]] [[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater|of this]] [[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots|trope.]]]
]
 
A [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]] is a character serving as [[The Dragon]] to the [[Big Bad]], but having different goals from him. For example, if this character [[Dragon Their Feet|encounters the heroes immediately after the death or defeat of his boss]], he won't try to complete his master's [[Evil Plan]], but will instead go on to pursue his own plans.
 
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 Onon Hitler]]. The equivalent among the hero's allies is [[...Who Needs Enemies?]].
 
{{examples}}
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Archduke Gorgon from ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' and ''[[Great Mazinger]]''. Theoretically he allied himself with [[Big Bad]] Dr. Hell to help him to destroy Mazinger-Z. But his real goal was {{spoiler|watching over Hell and betraying him at the right time [[Xanatos Gambit|to get him killed (in the GosakuOta manga he literally backstabbed him) and Mazinger-Z destroyed]].}} [[Magnificent Bastard|He succeeded on all fronts]].
* [[Scary Black Man]] Colonel Black is this to Commander Red in [[DragonballDragon Ball]].
* [[Dark Magical Girl]] Lutecia from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' who cooperates with [[Mad Scientist]] Scaglietti not for his goals of world domination but to find {{spoiler|and reanimate her mother, Megane, who is in a coma.}}.
* Pain in ''[[Naruto]]'', and almost all of Akasuki in general. Also {{spoiler|Sasuke}}.
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* {{spoiler|Wei}} to Amber in ''[[Darker Than Black]]''. {{spoiler|Wei serves Amber so that he can have a chance to fight Hei again}}
* In the anime adaptation of ''[[Kirby of the Stars|Kirby]]'', [[Stealth Mentor|Meta]] [[Worthy Opponent|Knight]].
* Nico Robin in ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'' starts out as a Dragon, but is later on revealed to have her own plans. After Crocodile's defeat, she [[Heel Face Turn|joins Luffy's crew]].
* Saten in ''[[NeedlessNEEDLESS]]'', who is introduced as one of Simeon's Elite Four, yet in a few scenes he "accidentally" helped out the good guys as they infiltrated Simeon's HQ. It turns out that {{spoiler|Saten was another survivor of the Adam Project who wanted Arclight dead so he could take over, but neither he nor his bosses counted on a revived Arclight coming back and absorbing him.}}
** That's in the anime anyways.
* Seto Kaiba from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' did this to his own Kaiba Corporation when he was what, twelve?
* This trope is interestingly invoked in [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] by [[Magnificent Bastard|Gendo]] [[Love Makes You Evil|Ikari]], playing The Dragon to [[Big Bad|Keel Lorenz]] by ensuring the destruction of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Angels]] to open the path to [[Assimilation Plot|Insturmentality.]] Of course, once the path is open, he will immediately take things off the rails for his own [[Eternal Love|reunification]] [[Love Makes You Crazy|scenario.]]
* {{spoiler|Dark Zero}} from ''[[Kurohime]]''. Rather than follow the [[Big Bad]] Yashahime's plan and rule the universe, he just wants to exterminate humanity.
* From ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', {{spoiler|Sird to Giovanni}}. Turns out she was [[The Dragon]] from ''another'' villainous team; she was actually working undercover as [[The Mole]] to learn more about various Pokemon from space.
* In the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', Char Aznable split his time between earnestly supporting Zeon's cause and [[The Starscream|trying to murder his boss's entire family]] in [[Revenge Byby Proxy|revenge]] for his [[You Killed My Father|father]].
{{quote| '''Char:''' Blame this on the misfortune of your birth.}}
* 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, Thethe Bad, Andand The Evil]] situation.
* ''[[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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** The Anti-Monitor's goal is simple - [[Omnicidal Maniac|to wipe out every single thing in the matter multiverse.]] Nice when a villain has such a clear focus on what they want, isn't it?
** Sinestro was aiming to bring order to the multiverse by taking it over and ruling as the head of the Sinestro Corps in much the same way as he did his home planet of Korugar...or so he lets everyone think. {{spoiler|In reality, his goal was not to win the war but to do so much damage that the Guardians of the Universe would allow the Green Lantern Corps to kill. In doing so, he believes he set in motion the events that would lead to the Green Lanterns being feared.}}
** Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, is much cleaner, as all he has ever wanted was [[Death Seeker|to die]] and be reunited with his dead wife. If the Anti-Monitor is Sinestro's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], then Henshaw is the Anti-Monitor's as the Anti-Monitor promised him death. {{spoiler|It almost worked. He was destroyed during the story but, in [[The Stinger|the stinger]], was located by the Manhunters and resurrected.}}
** Superboy-Prime, meanwhile, only ever wanted to {{spoiler|kill the Anti-Monitor as retribution for Earth-Prime being destroyed.}} He actually succeeded.
* In [[Infinite Crisis]], the main members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains:
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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 ''[[Doctor Who]]''/''[[Jem]]'' crossover fancomic ''[[RichsRich's Comix Blog|Outrage]]'' reveals that Eric Raymond's toady Techrat was actually one of these.
* 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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== Films -- Live Action ==
* In ''[[Con Air]]'', Cameron Poe asks black supremacist Diamond Dog why he's content to be second in command to white Big Bad Cyrus Grissom. Dog replies that while his long term agenda is vastly different from that of Cyrus, he needs to escape before he can get back to it - going along with Cyrus is "a means to an end".
* In ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'', Hans' top henchman Karl's brother--another of Hans' henchmen--is killed by McClane. Karl wants revenge against McClane, losing interest in the main mission for the rest of the movie.
* The ''[[Twilight]]: Eclipse'' movie seems to do this to Jane, implying that she will allow the Cullens' deaths without Aro's knowledge. This makes more sense than in the book, where Aro wants Edward and Alice to join his side but nevertheless is willing to let Victoria's army kill them.
 
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* Galadan Wolflord in ''[[The Fionavar Tapestry]]''. Rakoth, the [[Big Bad]], is a pretty standard dark god/ [[Evil Overlord]] who is out for world domination, but Galadan wants to destroy the world because he was [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|driven mad by the death of his love]], and he views Rakoth as a convenient weapon to help accomplish this. Obviously these goals are mutually exclusive, but it's implied that Rakoth knows all about Galadan's plans and does nothing simply because he knows the Wolflord isn't powerful enough to be a threat to him.
* Per [[Word of God]], [[Magnificent Bastard|Sauron]] only worked with [[God of Evil|Morgoth]] in [[The Silmarillion]] to advance his own ends- namely, to create perfect order by turning the world into a giant totalitarian state. As Morgoth's goals were, essentially, to take over the world so he could say "mine" before [[Omnicidal Maniac|blowing it up]], it's very likely that an [[Enemy Civil War]] would have broken out had the bad guys ''won''. Fortunately for Sauron, Morgoth went down first, allowing him to graduate to [[Big Bad]] in [[The Lord of the Rings]].
* [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Grand Admiral Thrawn and Jedi Master Joruus C'baoth]]. C'baoth took Thrawn's orders with more and more reluctance as time went on, and he wanted very different things. Towards the end they weren't really on the same side anymore. {{spoiler|Thrawn was fully aware of this, and at the time of his death was planning to solve the problem by [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|eliminating C'baoth]] and [[Send in Thethe Clones|making a replacement C'baoth]]. His own death, nearly simultaneous to C'baoth's, derailed his plan.}}
* In the [[Codex Alera]], [[Lady Macbeth|Lady Invidia Aquitaine]] serves as her husband Lord Aquitaine's Dragon so that she can get her hans on the Realm's reins of power (and married him primarily for this purpose), while he {{spoiler|wants to topple a First Lord he sees as corrupt, but has no real desire to hold power himself}}. After breaking with him, Lady Aquitaine winds up in a similar relationship with {{spoiler|the Vord Queen}}, serving {{spoiler|her}} only because {{spoiler|she is able to keep Invidia alive despite her crippling injuries}}.
* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Otherland]]'', John Dread is this to [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Felix Jongleur. Jongleur's [[Evil Plan]] is focused on [[Immortality Seeker|living forever]], and he's trained the [[Ax Crazy]] [[Serial Killer]] Dread as a [[Psycho for Hire]] to go after his physical opponents. Dread is far, far more ambitions than Jongleur realizes, however, and is simply biding his time, waiting for a moment of weakness to take over. And he does indeed, deposing Jongleur as master of Otherland and embarking on a [[A God Am I|godlike orgy]] of [[Sugar Apocalypse|virtual destruction]].
* On the good guy side we get Vimes playing this role to Vetinari, maybe. Most of the time Vimes appears to be just a good little dragon, but he does sometimes have a different agenda, or at least a different motivation. Depending on how you look at it; technically, they both want what's best for Ankh-Morpork, but they ''do'' often differ on what exactly that means.
* In [[David Eddings]]' [[The Malloreon]], the [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Demon Lords Mordja and Nahaz]] work for [[The Big Bad|Zandramas]] and [[A God Am I|Urvon]] solely so that they can seize the [[Artifact of Doom|Sardion]] from them in their moment of triumph and then drag them into hell. Urvon's other Dragon, [[Evil Sorceror|Harakan]]/[[Dark Messiah|Mengha]] is also a [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]]; he conspires with Nahaz to drive Urvon mad and take his place, so that the two of them can rule with the world. Since Nahaz is out to betray ''both'' of them, and both of them believe that their magic is enough to keep him under control, he succeeds in being [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]] ''and'' [[Dragon-in-Chief]] to two separate characters.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[The Phoenix On the Sword (Literature)|The Phoenix Onon the Sword]]", Ascalante. He was summoned to help the conspirators, and in his first appearance, comments on how his tools think he is their tool.
* Drake from ''[[Gone]]''. A psychopathic [[Complete Monster]], he serves as [[Big Bad]] [[The Sociopath|Caine's]] top enforcer, but it's apparent from his interior monologues that he's just helping Caine in hopes that Caine and Sam will kill each other. Although he probably would've turned on Caine as soon as they no longer had mutual goals, {{spoiler|Caine tried to kill him after Drake gave [[Dark Chick|Diana]] near-fatal injuries, which caused Drake to switch over to [[Bigger Bad|The Gaiaphage.]]}}
 
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== Live-Action TV ==
* 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 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The War Games''.
* 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 series)|Nikita]]''
 
 
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The man in the trope picture, Ocelot. {{spoiler|In [[Metal Gear Solid]], [[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]], and [[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]], Ocelot has been seemingly working for the [[Big Bad]], but working behind their backs, and usually the backs of the people he's supposedly really working for. The portrayal of him in [[The Last Days of Foxhound]] even named the trope [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]. The only MGS game he ISN'T this trope is the one where he's the [[Big Bad]] himself, [[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]], where his agenda comes to fruition.}}
* In [[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]], it is revealed that Darth Vader has been Palpatine's Dragon with an Agenda much earlier than the "I am Your Father" Scene in Episode V mentioned under Film. Vader tries pulling off a similar speech to the young Starkiller, but proves unable to sway him.
** In the "Dark Side" DLC available for some versions of the game, Starkiller actually becomes a Dragon with an Agenda appealing to Luke Skywalker.
* [[The Brute|Astaroth]] in the ''[[Soul Series]]'', [[All There in the Manual|according to the backstory]].
* In ''[[Suikoden III]]'', you eventually learn {{spoiler|[[The Chessmaster|Albert Silverberg]] orchestrated everything just to prove his skill as a strategist. He then casually derails it and walks away, likely leaving many players [[Karma Houdini|aching for a chance to settle the score]]. Or at least wipe that not-quite-smile off his face.}}
* From the [[Paper Mario (Video Gamefranchise)|Paper Mario]] series, we have {{spoiler|you guessed it; Dimentio}}. In this case, [[The Dragon]] is even ''more'' evil; an outright [[Omnicidal Maniac]] instead of a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]].
** The player was clued into the fact that {{spoiler|Dimentio's}} trying to work behind Count Bleck's back pretty early on. However, it isn't until the end of the game that we learn that he's really higher up on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], instead of just being a [[Reverse Mole]].
** Before that we had the Thousand Year Door where power hungry [[Big Bad|Sir Grodus]] tried to unearth an ancient power. {{spoiler|Too bad said ancient power was a [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|demoness whom Beldam served]], and wanted to spring free. Grodus ends up living as a talking head afterwards.}}
* Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' kills the emperor at the end of the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] and spends the next year [[Omnicidal Maniac|killing whatever he pleases.]] He fits for this trope [[For the Evulz|assuming he had an agenda in the first place.]]
* All of Chaos' Warriors in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' have priorities other than serving him.
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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 Comics]] ==
* In [[Antihero for Hire]], Angelson has at least one [[Xanatos Gambit]] going on under his boss's nose, we just don't know what.
* Xykon and Redcloak have a mutually beneficial alliance in ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]''. Redcloak only serves Xykon in order to open the Gates and get a fairer deal for the goblin race.
** Although there's a fair bit more to it than that, as seen in ''[[Start of Darkness]].'' Whether or not he'll [[The Starscream|turn Starscream]] eventually, or be forced to confront Xykon if their plans diverge, remains to be seen.
*** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html As it turns out], {{spoiler|Redcloak's plan doesn't help Xykon's own goals ''at all'', and Xykon is ultimately just Redcloak's [[Unwitting Pawn]].}}
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** And getting [[Unholy Matrimony|lots of hot hot sex from him.]]
*** Well, considering [[Horny Devils|what she is]], that last part goes without saying.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]:'' Ysengrin wants to [[Kill All Humans]], and his boss Coyote apparently doesn't. It's [[Wild Mass Guessing|possible]] that Ysengrin is trying to pull strings behind Coyote's back, and that Y killed Red and Blue because [[He Knows Too Much|they saw too much]].
* Wanda from ''[[Erfworld]]'' seemingly serves Stanley the Tool willingly, but it turns out she convinced him to attack her kingdom of Faq because she expected him to get slaughtered, and when he emerged victorious, she only joined him in his quest for the legendary Arkentools because she was hoping she'd get to wield one herself. {{spoiler|She does}}.
** When asked {{spoiler|why she's still with him after that}}, her answer is somewhere between [[Because Destiny Says So]] and [[You Can't Fight Fate]].
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance (Roleplay)|The Gamers Alliance]]'', {{spoiler|Ronove}} becomes the closest lieutenant of [[Four-Star Badass|Duke Malphas]] after the siege of Vanna but has his own, secret agenda for working with the demonic duke.
* In the [[That Guy With theThe 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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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Destro in some iterations of ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. He's pretty much in it for the money and [[The Baroness]].
* In ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', Slade (formerly a [[Big Bad]] himself) only serves as [[Satan|Trigon's]] Dragon so {{spoiler|he can get his mortal body back}}. Interestingly, he starts out this plotline very subservient to Trigon, and gradually starts acting less as a servant and more like a partner when he gets closer to getting what he wants. {{spoiler|When it becomes apparent that Trigon has no intention of honoring their agreement, Slade [[Enemy Mine|teams up with the Titans]] to take him down}}.
* Raythar from ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'' serves this role during the first part of the second season- [[Big Bad]] Nerissa has [[Hidden Agenda Villain|her own agenda]], but Raythar just wants to avenge the previous [[Big Bad]], [[Evil Overlord|Phobos]]. When a chance arises to put Phobos back on the throne, he ditches Nerissa and transfers his loyalty back to his original boss. Nerissa, meanwhile, replaces him with Shagon, who is her creation and therefore completely loyal.
* The Fright Knight in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' subtly expresses his absolutely distaste working for Pariah Dark and it hints he wants to go a different route. It ultimately proves true when he works against Pariah during the final battle. It's hinted he went to serve Vlad, but the original writer left the show before [[What Could Have Been|possible stories]] of this could have been told in Season Three.
* On ''[[Gargoyles]],'' [[The Fair Folk|the Weird Sisters]] serve this role for the Archmage--he wants revenge on Goliath, while they want revenge on the Magus and the rest of the Avalon Clan. They couldn't really get on the island themselves, however, since Oberon had forbidden it; the reason they willingly put themselves under the Archmage's service was because they knew ''he'' would order them to go there, exploiting a loophole in Avalon's laws.
** They could arguably be considered this for Oberon later, though that depends on [[Chaotic Neutral|whether or not he counts as a villain]]. [[Word of God]] says they ''are'' still plotting revenge, despite Oberon being at peace with the Avalon gargoyles.
* [[Sonic theSat Hedgehog (TV)AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]] {{spoiler|Snively}} in the final minutes of the series finale was revealed to be this.
* In the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'', Porcina's Raptorian minions encourage her to go to the extreme of turning Ponyland and all the Little Ponies into glass because they want to take the place for themselves.
* The ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' version of Mystique. In the first season, she's working for Magneto, but they have a slight falling out and works independently for the rest of the series. This causes some tension when both tried to take command of the Brotherhood, with varied results depending on the episode and the Brother.
* In a dark future episode of [[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]], Grim is ultimately this to dark overlord Mandy. {{spoiler|She was aware of this and set things up to capture the rebels and make Grim pay.}}
 
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Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/901621"