Evil Chancellor: Difference between revisions

[[Malicious Slander]] is a particular favorite of the [['''Evil Chancellor]]'''.

If only the King thinks the evil chancellor is his most trusted and loyal subject, he's a [[Horrible Judge of Character]]. When only the protagonists see through the evil of this character, it's a [[Devil in Plain Sight]]. If he ''doesn't'' want to steal the throne himself, then his goal is almost certainly to turn the ruler he allegedly serves into a [[Puppet King]].

This trope is the [[Evil Counterpart]] of [[The Good Chancellor]]. See also: [[The Evil Prince]], who is usually also after the throne and rather less willing to remain in the shadows. In fantasy settings, will often overlap with an [[Evil Sorcerer]]; if his "official" job is to ''be'' the ruler's personal magic-user, then he's also the [[Court Mage]]. Aspiring backstabbers may refer to the [[Evil Chancellor List]]. If the ruler the [['''Evil Chancellor]]''' "serves" is ''also'' evil, expect overlap with [[The Starscream]].

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': After the [[Time Skip]], {{spoiler|Rossiu}} became a [[Well -Intentioned Extremist]] chancellor. {{spoiler|And when he realizes what he's done, he almost kills himself. Simon has to punch him out of it ''through hyper space''.}}

** Also Schneizel, though subverted in that his father the Emperor is not a weak figurehead, and that both turn to be {{spoiler|, like Lelouch, [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] in their own fashion, rather than well and truly evil.}} He is after the throne but his father is fully aware of the fact, and is not overtly concerned ( {{spoiler|When Schneizel finally makes his bid, he discovers that Charles has decided to let him have it, his own plans having at last started to come to fruition.}})

* Played straight with Prince Gihren Zabi in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam (Anime)|Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', and his father Degwin Sodo Zabi before him.

** Fonsie Kagatie from ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Anime)|Victory Gundam]]''

** Also {{spoiler|Urube Ishikawa}} and Prime Minister Wong from ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|G Gundam]]''.

** Don't forget Haman Karn of ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Anime)|Zeta Gundam]]'' & especially in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (Anime)|Gundam ZZ]]'', who is even named for one of the [[Trope Maker|Trope Makers]]s, Hamman from [[The Bible (Literature)|the Book of Esther]].

* There's one in the [[Detective Conan]] vs. [[Lupin III]] special. {{spoiler|And he's also the [[Big Bad]] ''and'' the killer of the week, having murdered his Queen and the Prince Crown of [[Ruritania|his land]] to later attempt to murder the [[Sole Survivor]] of the royal family, the [[Broken Bird]] Princess.}}

=== ComicbooksComic Books ===

** Before he became President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy was regularly portrayed as Iznogoud by political cartoonist Jean Plantu, because of his obvious ambition to replace Jacques Chirac as President. Chirac has reportedly hated him ever since the 1995 presidential election, when Sarkozy (up until then a Chirac follower) abruptly decided to back Edouard Balladur for president.

* In ''[[Asterix]] and the Magic Carpet'', Hoodunnit is the Grand Vizier of India, and plans to gain power once the only heir (Princess Orinjade) is [[Virgin Sacrifice|sacrificed to the rain gods]]. (In a [[Shout -Out]], he mentions his cousin, Iznogoud, and uses the phrase "I want to be Rajah instead of the Rajah".)

* Yusuf, Sinbad's advisor, in ''[[Fables (Comic Book)|Fables]]''.

* [[Doctor Doom]] was one of these, then he orchestrated a couple of [[Ridiculously -Human Robots|robot doubles]] and waited for a death or two, and had a robot double prince give all the power to him.

* [[Star Wars Legacy|Darth Wyyrlok]] is an [[Evil Chancellor]] paired with an [[Evil Overlord]] - and he's an [[Evil Sorcerer]] to boot! {{spoiler|He winds up betraying his Master, but it's something of a subversion of this trope- he does it not (primarily) out of ambition, but from a devotion to Lord Krayt's dream of a unified Galactic Empire which he himself has abandoned to pursue personal goals.}}

* Currently in ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'', Loki is the [[Evil Chancellor]] for the new Asgardian prince Balder who, after a good <s>half-century</s> [[Norse Mythology|millennium and a half of stories]], should [[What an Idiot!|really know better]].

=== [[FanficFan Works]] ===

* In Sabaku on DA's remarkably mature ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'' fanfic set in the future, the evil adult form of Kenny, called Kenneth has a scheming Evil Chancellor named Kiyomori Taira, based off the rather villainous Kiyomori from history. He also has skills as an [[Evil Sorcerer]] and is blatantly more powerful than Kenneth, as seen in ArcadiusD's Time of the Serpent continuation fic

=== Film ===

* Zig-Zag from the masterpiece ''[[The Thief and The Cobbler (Animation)|The Thief and Thethe Cobbler]]''. And voiced by [[Vincent Price|the master of such characters]]. Ironically, he is actually [[The Dragon]] and not the [[Big Bad]].

* Jaffar, from ''[[The Thief of Bagdad (Film)|The Thief of Bagdad]]'', starts out as an Evil Vizier, although he does wind up usurping the throne rather early in the film.

* Jafar, from Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.

* There's also Yzma from the Disney film ''[[The EmperorsEmperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]''. The thing is, she actually succeeds in overthrowing Kuzco, but Kuzco at the beginning of the film is such a jerk that his subjects don't seem to notice the difference (or even care). It's also implied that Yzma's the reason why Kuzco's such a jerk in the first place ("Does he... A little more to the left. (Smashes bust) ...Have any idea who he's dealing with?! I can't believe this! Why, I'm the one who ''practically raised him!'' (smashes another bust)").

* In ''[[MillersMiller's Crossing]]'' Johnny Casper's chief muscle Eddie Dane combines this trope with that of [[The Dragon]], since he relies more on strength and bullets than brains, which he resents. Tom Regan would be Leo's [[The Good Chancellor]] (as much as a gangster who makes recommendations on hits, and sleeps with his bosses wife can be good).

* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Sir Hiss]] from Disney's ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'' is actually this to [[Big Bad|Prince]] [[King of Beasts|John.]] Subverted however, by the fact that Prince John is already evil from the start.

=== Literature ===

* Hamman from the Book of Esther in the Hebrew [[The Bible (Literature)|Bible]] was a Persian wazir who tried to convince his king to exterminate the Jewish population that was scattered in the Persian empire. Since the queen was secretly Jewish (and her uncle had saved the king's life), this did not go well for him. He is probably one of The Oldest Ones In The Book.

** This editor recalls reading many stories of Court Jews and/or Rabbis facing off against Evil Courtiers of various stripes in books of Jewish folktales as a kid.

* In the [[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]] tale "The Story of the Slave-Girl Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan", Jafar (see Exceptions below) helps Harun al-Rashid take down an evil vizier who's preying on the king and people of Basra and persecuting the titular Nur al-Din Ali (whose father was a good vizier).

* In Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', the 8th Bolgia (ditch) of the Eighth circle of Hell is reserved for "Evil Counselors," that is, the officers and advisors of rulers who mislead or betray their masters. He includes examples of his era in the poem. When [[Larry Niven]] and Jerry Pournelle wrote the novel ''[[Inferno]]'', doing their own take on Dante, the most poignant example was [[Benito Mussolini]], who, as chancellor of Italy, turned that country to Fascism.

* Doubly subverted in ''[[War and Peace]]'' with Speransky, who most characters assume to be an [[Evil Chancellor]] until Prince Andrei meets with him and finds him to be a pleasant man only concerned for the betterment of Russia. He is later [[Put Onon a Bus]] when he's discharged from the sovereign's court on charges of corruption and treason.

** Averted in that she does not wish to usurp the throne {{[{spoiler| rather, she put him on there since she knew he'd not interfere with her wanton killing}}], and her motives for keeping people so afraid are supposedly that {{spoiler|if they left Nifl, they'd see the [[Scenery Gorn|rotted giantess head]] at Epoch at find out that gods really ''can'' die, and will give them some sort of sovereign power}}. However, {{spoiler|she is slowly losing power since the death of the Red Flower Girl led to [[Zero Percent0% Approval Rating|public outcry]].}}

* Parodied in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' series of books, in which the Grand Vizier is automatically assumed to be like this, regardless of the culture involved or the circumstances of meeting them. A prime example would be Lord Hong from ''Interesting Times'', who was Grand Vizier of the Agatean Empire and probably one of the most powerful and dangerous figures to appear in the ''Discworld'' series.

** ''[[Pyramids]]'' has the hidebound High Priest Dios. He doesn't like the way the new ruler, Pteppic, is trying to run things, but doesn't try to overthrow him; he just "interprets" the commands of the Pharaoh so that things will be run the way they've always been run anyway. Also, he's not really evil, so much as very much steeped in the country's traditions to the point that they are second nature to him.

*** Well, he ''is'' really {{spoiler|seven thousand years old}}.

*** {{spoiler|Near infinitely old depending if you interpret the ending as a closed-loop time paradox}}.

** ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]] [[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' subverts it with the Grand Vizier of Al-Ybi, a sensible and unambitious accountant, who has reluctantly grown a [[Beard of Evil]] and practiced his sinister smile, because that's what's expected. He views the whole thing as an unnecessary distraction from balancing the budget.

** Also subverted at the end of ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Interesting Times|Interesting Times]]'' when {{spoiler|Emperor}} Cohen {{spoiler|promotes ''Twoflower'' to Grand Vizier, on the basis of him knowing nothing about the role.}}.

* Inverted in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire (Literature)|A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': Eddard Stark and Tywin Lannister are both highly competent and (though Tywin's a bit of a [[Magnificent Bastard|bastard]]) they are both trying to do what's best for the realm. Unfortunately, the king Eddard serves is a stupid, brutish, drunken has-been, and both of the kings Tywin serves are {{spoiler|products of incest and dangerously insane--one of them tried to burn the city down instead of letting his enemies have it, and the other is a young sociopath who is [[Disproportionate Retribution|heavily into revenge]] and managed to cause a city-wide riot against the aristocracy.}}

** And then there's Varys, who arguably fits in the school of the "scheming eunuchs" mentioned below. No one knows ''who'' the fuck Varys is playing for, but everyone bets on "himself."

* Grima Wormtongue of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' succeeds in effectively ruling Rohan by manipulating the ailing King Theoden... for a while.

* Cabbarus in [[Lloyd Alexander]]'s ''Westmark'' manipulates the king's grief over his dead daughter... but it all gets blown sky high when {{spoiler|the daughter turns out to be [[Not Quite Dead]]}}. In the sequel, the king of the next country over has an [[Evil Uncle]] doubling as an [[Evil Chancellor]], too.

* The Word Bearers' Chaplain Erebus fills this role in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series of ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' novels. Somewhat different in that rather than scheming to kill Warmaster Horus, Erebus schemes to corrupt him.

* In the [[David Eddings]] ''[[Elenium]]'' trilogy, the churchman Annias serves as this trope to King Aldreas, the weak-minded ruler of Elenia. Annias needs to control the crown while he works on becoming Archprelate (the story's equivalent of the Pope), and to that end he {{spoiler|convinces the king that it's okay to [[Brother -Sister Incest|sleep with his own sister, Arissa]], who is the mother of Annias's son Lycheas.}} It keeps Aldreas distracted.

* In one book of Christopher Stasheff's ''[[A Wizard in Rhyme]]'' series, the title character visits a country which has an evil queen who is descended from an Evil Chancellor who usurped the throne. The Chancellor's name was [[Sdrawkcab Name|Reiziv.]]

* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory, Sorrow, Sorrowandand Thorn]]'' series, Pryrates [[Complete Monster|gleefully]] occupies this role to the [[Unwitting Pawn|ill-fated]] King Elias. In the end, he turns out to be [[The Dragon]] to the [[Big Bad|Storm King]].

* In ''One Good Knight'', part of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series by [[Mercedes Lackey]], there's an [[Evil Chancellor]]. He's lampshaded with a line somewhat like "if the king's advisor was a magician, then according to the Tradition he must be scheming after the throne." Additionally, he and [[God Save Us From the Queen|the queen]] are a [[Unholy Matrimony|couple]]. Of course, he's planning to betray her.

* Referenced in ''[[Neverwhere]]'' (book only): Richard calls the Marquis de Carabas the "psychotic grand vizier" to Door. While certainly a scheming [[Magnificent Bastard]] who's only on the heroes' side for his own good, he doesn't actually live up to the trope and betray Door.

* Chancellor Urtica from Mark Charan Newton's [[Legends of the Red Sun]]-series is a textbook example of this trope. In the first book alone he {{spoiler|was able to depose the empress he serves by framing her for attempted genocide of refugees (planned by ''him'' no less!) who seek to enter her city. Oh, and he is also the head of an outlawed cult that will follow his every order.}}

* Count Fenring in ''[[Dune]]''. In his case, his chief motive is [[My Master, Right or Wrong]], and he is not an unsympathetic figure.

** Actually, there is no indication that Brodrig's policy was different from that of Cleon - it's quite likely the Emperor used him to play [[Good Cop, Bad Cop]].

{{quote| '''James''':While I live, Andrew is my right hand. If I die, my uncle's boy inherits and Andrew goes back to being one more southern lord with better birth than land. He has no reason to seek my life, and much to guard it.}}

* The ''[[Sano Ichiro (Literature)|Sano Ichiro]]'' series has Chamberlain Yanagisawa, who knows exactly what the Shogun wants to hear so he can get what he wants. Although [[Historical Domain Character|based on a real historical figure]], the book version has received a big [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]

* The Supreme Custodian in ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Septimus Heap]]''.

* ''[[I, Claudius]]'' has a subversion in its presentation of Narcissus and other freedmen advisors of Claudius. These individuals were chancellors of the original kind, highly educated former slaves or the children of slaves who were hated by Rome's aristocrats for their influence over Claudius and probably prompted some of his more unpleasant actions. However, they were completely loyal to Claudius and thus more akin to the [[Poisonous Friend]] trope.

* Francis Urquhart in the TV series ''[[House of Cards (British series)]]''. Throughout the first part of the story he appears to be the faithful ally and Chief Whip to Prime Minister Henry Collingridge, all the while plotting the PM's downfall. Ironically, when Collingridge is forced to resign he throws his support behind Urquhart's own campaign to become PM, still completely unaware of who his betrayer actually was.

* Inverted in the ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' arc "Look at the Princess" - Rygel becomes the secretly good advisor to the evil queen.

* On ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'', Senator Kinsey eventually becomes the Vice President version of this trope near the end of Season Seven, thanks to backing from the [[Government Conspiracy|Trust]]. Hints are dropped that he eventually plans on having the President assassinated and replacing him, but thankfully before that happens, the President fires him in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* Agravaine, Arthur's uncle in ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' season 4, who is actually [[The Dragon]] to Morgana.

* Subverted in the ''[[Flash Gordon (TV series)|Flash Gordon]]'' series. Rankol is an evil, hero-torturing cybernetic mad scientist whose experiments have endangered two worlds. And he is still aghast at most of the stuff his boss does on a weekly basis. Of course he does work for [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ming the Merciless]].

=== TabletopVideo RPGGames ===

* The medieval chancellor of the royal family of Guardia in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' is kidnapped and impersonated by a vicious monster, Yakra. Meanwhile, his modern-day counterpart is a paranoiac who sentences Crono to death for "kidnapping" the princess and disorderly conduct, and later puts the King himself to trial. {{spoiler|He is, in fact, a descendant of Yakra who impersonates the modern-day chancellor in order to get revenge on Crono for defeating his ancestor.}}

* Noah in the first ''[[Galaxy Angel (Videovideo Gamegame)|Galaxy Angel]]'' game sucked up to Eonia, claiming him for her admirable older brother in a [[Brother -Sister Incest|siscon]] sort of manner while convincing him to do all the evil he did before and during the coup.

* Variant subversion: In ''[[Paper Mario: theThe Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand -Year Door]]'' in Glitzville Grubba the arena owner is portrayed as an eccentric and somewhat dishonest nice guy, while the manager and his assistant, Jolene, is cold and behaves suspiciously. Of course, it turns out that Grubba is a villainous monster who has been draining people's energy to stay young forever, and although Jolene -- trueJolene—true to the trope -- wastrope—was working to eliminate him, it was because she was the heroine of this arc who had discovered just what Grubba was.

* In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi is played as one, although he is loyal until almost the end, and Zhuge gets a nice rant about how he's a hero and not about to betray anyone.

* ''[[Ar Tonelicotonelico]]'':

** Played further with in ''[[Ar Tonelicotonelico 2II: Melody of Metafalica]]'', where Alfman Uranous, the [[Obviously Evil|very suspicious]] Chancellor of the Grand Bell (thus the protagonist's superior), responsible for brutal public health and safety policies, closing schools and manipulating the [[Puppet King|Holy Maiden]] Cloche, may be a {{spoiler|[[Well -Intentioned Extremist]] aiming to [[Rage Against the Heavens]]}}.

** The Lich King expansion added {{spoiler|Varimathras, a member of a race that has been [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] from the start of time}} to this list, to the surprise of absolutely no one. The spoiler tag probably isn't even necessary

** Played with by Magatha Grimtotem. She has all the trappings of one (suspicious motives, has shown disdain for Cairne and the Horde's new directions, leader of the Taurn's [[Evil Counterpart|Evil Counterparts]]s) but hasn't actually ''done'' anything to go against them. Not yet, at least.

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in the Xbox game ''[[Metal Wolf Chaos]]'', where Richard Hawk, the vice president of the United States, abandons subtle evil-advisor strategies to terrorize the country in a giant robot. Necessitating the President to don his own giant robot and take it back.

** '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Genl242_ZU8 RICHAAARD!!!]'''

* ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'''s {{spoiler|Samir Duran. Twice.}}

* The Pope of ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', who is for all intents and purposes the Chancellor of Meltokio, plots the death of the King so he can take over and rule, among other heinous acts (see the [[Jerkass]] entry for examples, a trope he fits very well).

* In ''[[Dungeon Siege]] 2'', the leader of the dark wizards was Valdis's [[Evil Mentor]], procedes to become his [[Evil Chancellor]] and Dragon, and {{spoiler|turns out to secretly be the [[Man Behind the Man]] for both Vadis and the player}}.

* In ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'', prime minister Borg is definitely one of those. He actively plots to use the princess as a bargaining chip to the approaching imperials in an attempt to allow him to be named King in her stead.

* The kings Chancellor Kronus Maelor in ''[[The Horde (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Horde]]'' is a example of the silly blatantly evil type. He will randomly take your money as a bonus for himself, plot to kill Chancey during cutscreens and is {{spoiler|The Horde king}}

* Chancellor Jeeves of Gotha in ''[[Dragon Quest V (Video Game)|Dragon Quest V]]''.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy XI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XI]]'' {{spoiler|in the ''Treasures of Aht Urhgan'' expansion Grand Vizier Razfahd, Empress Nashmeira's brother, is pretty evil. His goal was to reconstruct [[Light Is Not Good|Alexander]] so that it could fight [[Dark Is Not Evil|Odin]] in a new [[Apocalypse How|Ragnarok]]. Eventually he gets what he wants, [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard|but dies in the process]]}}. Then much later, {{spoiler|you get to fight Alexander again, and we find out he was alive in the avatar dimension. Afterwards he [[Heel Face Turn|is sorry for the trouble that he caused]]}}.

* [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Video Game)/Characters|Vulcanus]] from ''[[Disgaea]]'' is the Archangel, second-in-command to Seraph Lamington, Supreme Commander of the Celestial Hosts, got a [[A God Am I|god complex]], is [[Politically -Incorrect Villain|politically incorrect]] and [[Obviously Evil]].

* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' had this in its original Prophescies campaign with {{spoiler|Vizier Khilbron. In a bit of a twist, he was the only survivor from destroyed kingdom Orr and thus no longer second in command. He also sends uses the players as unwitting pawns to his ultimate scheme.}} Late in the Nightfall campaign, we learn that this trope is subverted somewhat, {{spoiler|in that ''[[Big Bad]]'' Abaddon might have been behind his corruption.}}

* Ancano, of [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]], acts as an "Advisor" to the ArchMage of the [[Wizarding School|College of Winterhold]], serving as a representative for the Thalmor, a [[A Nazi Byby Any Other Name|Nazi-esque]] government of Elven Supremacists. Personality wise, he's a massive [[Smug Snake]], a [[Jerkass]] [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]], and is so [[Obviously Evil]] it's impossible not to notice. The College tolerates him, if only to avoid some massive diplomatic issues, but they suspect that he's only using the post to spy on them. {{spoiler|He eventually goes on a power bender, gets a hold of a very powerful artifact of unknown origin, uses it to amplify his own magical powers, and then stages a hostile takeover of the College, [[Omnicidal Maniac|threatening to unmake the world just to see if he really can.]]}} [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Oh]], and he looks like [http://images.uesp.net/c/c0/SR-npc-Ancano.jpg this], in case you needed a visual clue.

* Rilix, an ancient powerful being of a long lost race of people is this to the King in ''[[Shining the Holy Ark (Video Game)|Shining the Holy Ark]]''. She turns the King into a [[Puppet King|puppet]] an attempts to use him to bring back her race, who are [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|sealed in a can]].

=== WebcomicsWeb Comics ===

* Parodied to ridiculous levels with the ''[[Eight 8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' character [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Chancellor Usurper]] aka {{spoiler|Dark Elf King Astos}}. When he was about to take over he planned to have the man who would be the next chancellor killed since he knows you can never trust whoever is in that position. Apparently, this is par for course in Elf Land.

{{quote| '''White Mage''': Your viziers are treacherous?<br />

* ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers!]]'' has a comic where upon being introduced to the Chancellor, Karn immediately tosses him out a window [[Genre Savvy|for this very reason]]. Parodied in that that was the GOOD chancellor, his evil duplicate was late to work and hadn't had a chance to kidnap/replace him yet.

** Chancellor <s>Zod</s> Valorum is portrayed as (ludicrously over the top) Evil, and he is a Chancellor, but oddly enough, he is not an [[Evil Chancellor]] as defined by this trope, because in the Galactic Senate "Chancellor" refers to the equivalent of President or King, rather than an advisor role, so he's more [[President Evil]].

* [[Lampshade Hanging]] ''and'' subversion in ''[[Casey and Andy (Webcomic)|Casey and Andy]]'', where the protagonists visit a fantasy-based parallel dimension. [http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=450 There], the "Evil Grand Vizier" is ''supposed'' to be constantly scheming to topple the monarch, and sure enough, the Vizier is easily recognizable as the local version of Casey & Andy's archnemesis... however, {{spoiler|in the end it turns out that he's actually a good guy, and that he'd only ''pretended'' to be a scheming, unreliable madman in order to get close to the Queen, with whom he was in love. The true Evil Chancellor turns out to be the court wizard Kasor, who plays this fairly straight.}}

* In [[Dead of Summer]], {{spoiler|[[The Protomen (Music)|Doug Fetterman]]}} is somewhere between this and an [[Evil Prince]]. It's also a slight subversion in that the good guys know he's evil.

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'', {{spoiler|Tarquin and his five adventuring buddies pair up and act as this to three different empires (though they are not necessarily, in this case, opposing in alignment to their bosses) in a careful juggling act designed to give them all wealth and power without the hassles and dangers of being openly in charge.}}

* Somewhat subverted in ''[[CwensCwen's Quest]]'' as the three scheming advisors to the Witch Queen, while unscrupulous, are actually a lot nicer than the queen. They briefly actually manage to take over the kingdom by putting a child on the throne after the original Witch Queen's death but when next we see them they've apparently lost control as the new grown up queen is viciously ordering them around.

** "Now, I know how much you hate personal power, Grand Vizier Slitherstab, but --" "[http://creamybeamy.comicgenesis.com/d/20080409.html I'll cope.]"

* [[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Chick]] does the vice-president variety in ''[[Kickassia]]'' when she spends most of the special trying to kill [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] to take the presidency for her own. Sure, by about halfway through ''everyone's'' trying to kill Critic, but she was doing it independent of the rebellion.

* Corvax from Muzzy in Gonaland, though his exact position is unclear.

* Pete in ''[[Mickey, Donald, Goofy: theThe Three Musketeers]]''.

* Something of a [[Running Gag]] in Tarkon-based ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Galaxy Rangers]]'' episodes. King Spartos is a [[Horrible Judge of Character]], but his [[Rebellious Princess]] daughter isn't.

* Dorkus in ''[[Planet Sheen (Animation)|Planet Sheen]]''. His goal isn't to usurp the throne, however, but to get rid of Sheen for destroying his home, taking his place as imperial advisor, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|making fun of his name]].

*** Most eunuchs were castrated as children. The survival rate of the operation was poor, but better for young boys than grown men. As such, any voluntarism would have been highly questionable.

* Otto von Bismarck was something of a [[Well -Intentioned Extremist]] version. He was quite ruthless and became the real power behind the throne, but he was doing it for the sake of Germany.

* Inverted with king [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain:Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos I of Spain]] to [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco:Francisco Franco|General Francisco Franco]]

*** Two reasons actually, one of them being Carolingian propaganda which exaggerated the incompetence etc. of the last Merovingians. At the time it was a situation not unlike that with emperors and shoguns in Japan before the Meiji Restoration, where de facto power was held by the major domos and the Merovingian king could do nothing even if he tried to.

** One counter-example would be ''[[Dave]]''. Also, in the case of George W. Bush, perhaps the best-known case of where the Vice President was seen in such a role by opponents of the administration, the then-White House Chief of Staff was also often portrayed a kind of evil genius. Another Vice President who has been portrayed that way, especially in conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK, was Lyndon Johnson, who while he wielded little official power still had a great deal of influence from his time in the US Senate and ''did'' come to the Presidency after the murder of his predecessor. But at other times, especially before the emergence of the office of White House Chief of Staff, a leading member of the President's official or even of his "kitchen" cabinet could easily be seen as an [[Evil Chancellor]]. Thus for a long time during the Lincoln administration Secretary of State Seward was widely believed to be pulling simple Abe Lincoln's strings.

** ''[[The Three Musketeers (Literaturenovel)|The Three Musketeers]]'' also follows the inversion by making the conflict between the Monarchy (mostly the Queen, as the current king isn't too bright) and Cardinal more of a rivalry. This is mainly because Milady is the real [[Big Bad]].

* [[Mao Ze DongZedong]] had ''four'' of these: [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four:Gang of Four|The Gang of Four]]. One of them being [[Lady Macbeth|his own wife]].

=== Exceptions ===

=== Film ===

* [[The Golden Voyage of Sinbad]] features a completely good Grand Vizier-albeit one who is currently serving as regent, the Sultan having recently died. The villain is instead an evil prince who is also a wizard--playedwizard—played by [[Tom Baker]], no less

=== Literature ===

* No matter how many Evil Viziers get named after him, Jafar in the original ''[[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]]'' stories was usually seen as wise, generous, and probably more mentally stable than Harun al-Rashid himself.

* After Ozma takes the throne of [[Land of Oz (Literature)|Oz]], the Scarecrow cheerfully steps down and becomes Regent of Oz. It's a fine use of his fine brain, and he is very loyal to Ozma and to Ozma's chosen successor, Dorothy.

** In the "present day" Oz of ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'', Ambrose/ {{spoiler|Glitch}} is loyal and devoted to the lavender-eyed queen to the bitter end, destroying plans for an invention that could theoretically used as a doomsday device. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop the Witch from taking the plans quite literally out of his head}}. Years later, he meets up with DG, {{spoiler|the Queen's daughter}}, and becomes equally devoted and protective of her.

* In Mika Waltari's ''The Wanderer'', Suleiman the Magnificent's vizier Ibrahim seems like this, but is shown to be the sultan's only friend and politically capable. He is somewhat ruthless, but apart from the main character, pretty much everyone in the book is.

=== Videogames ===

* There's a man in ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' who is apparently Edge's grandfather (referred to as "Gramps"), who looks after the people of Eblan while his grandson fights to save the world . In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', Beatrix also seems to take on this role in overseeing the rebuilding of Alexandria while Dagger and Steiner are off saving the world.

* The {{spoiler|real}} chancellors in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' aren't seen doing much, but they're good guys.

=== Webcomics ===

=== Western Animation ===

* In ''[[War Planets]]'' (AKA ''Shadow Raiders''), the Grand Vizier of Planet Fire is a narrow-minded, obstructionist xenophobe. However, he is utterly devoted to his prince and the people of Fire. He even goes so far as to make a Heroic Sacrifice. He does make a reappearance afterwards where he tries to get them eaten by the Beast Planet, but like ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'', it's an evil replica, not the real Vizier.

* In an episode of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]] , Twilight and co. host a play. Twilight's character is a vizier to Rarity's character, and is in fact not as bad as Rarity's character.

=== Real Life ===

* In the Norman Kingdom of Sicily during the middle ages, several figures can be seen as Evil Chancellors. Most notable is Maio of Bari, who served as vice-chancellor, chancellor and 'emir of emirs' under William I (and, briefly, his father, Roger II). The far from objective contemporary writer Hugo Falcandus (probably not his real name) claimed that Maio had attempted to elevate himself above the king, including openly contradicting the king's orders, hoarding 'royal regalia' such as crowns, appointing members of family to key government positions, and just generally taking over the entire business of ruling the kingdom. The accuracy of this can be discussed at length, but not here. Maio's predecessor, George of Antioch, has also been accused of spreading misinformation about his superior in order to get him executed and take his place, and is described as trying to keep the king concealed from his subjects; the chancellor Robert of Selby was supposedly the only means by which anyone could speak to the king; and the Greek-Sicilian emir Christodoulos was allegedly Roger II's equal in power (a feat which he achieved through making himself completely indispensable as an administrator and military commander).

* Similarly, Badr al-Jamali in Fatimid Egypt: he was initially asked by the Caliph to put down some troublesome dissidents, but ended up declaring himself wasir/vizier and gradually (but fairly rapidly) accumulating authority over pretty much everything in Egypt.