I Fight for the Strongest Side: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In a normal [[Defeat Means Friendship]] scenario, someone formerly opposed to the hero joins their side or at least becomes more affable towards them shortly after being defeated by them. In this trope, the defeat is the sole reason for their [[Heel Face Turn]]. The defeated character effectively says, "Okay, now that I know you're stronger, I'm gonna join up with you now. " The reasons for this varies:

* They're an opportunistic [[Reliable Traitor]] who feels that his/her interests would be better served on the hero's side.

* They wanted to join the hero's side all along. They just wanted to test the hero's power first

{{examples}}

* Kenpachi Zaraki in ''[[Bleach]]'' eventually does a [[Heel Face Turn]] (sort of, its complicated) and decides to help out Ichigo and his [[True Companions]], on the basis that if Ichigo survives, Zaraki will get to [[Blood Knight|fight him again]].

* In Rei's first appearance in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', he's helping bandits to invade Mamiya's village, but then betrays them when he sees how strong Kenshiro is and uses this trope as justification.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In his earliest appearances in ''[[Superman]]'' comics, Bibbo Bibbowski was like this - He broke his hand punching Superman, and from then on Superman was his "fav'rit" because he was tough. When he saw the Man of Steel getting beaten up by [[Lobo]], his reaction was "Yer even tougher than Superman. Yer my ''new'' fav'rit". In later appearances he respected Superman for always doing the right thing.

 

* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''. After Sheriff Bart has defeated Mongo:

{{quote|'''Mongo:''' Mongo stay with Sheriff Bart. Sheriff first man ever whip Mongo. Mongo impressed, have deep feelings for Sheriff Bart.}}

* In ''Untold Tales of [[Blackest Night]]'', the Rainbow Raiders (a group carrying on the legacy of the original Rainbow Raider) attempted to side with the [[Zombie Apocalypse|Black Lantern Corps]]. However, they have no idea how becoming a Black Lantern actually works and end up killing themselves for nothing.

 

* Every single member of the kif species from the ''[[Chanur Saga]]'' by [[C. J. Cherryh]]. Since the kif have nothing that's recognizable to other oxygen breathing species as a conscience or sense of morality, this is how their entire society is organized.

* Wormtail from ''[[Harry Potter]]'' as he'd just be pathetic otherwise.

* Near the end of the second book in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s Tale of Krispos series, the [[Big Bad]] [[Evil Sorceror|Avshar]]'s [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Haloga mercenaries]] start to desert him when [[The Hero|Krispos]] finally manages to beat him. The first man to join Krispos tells him that he only followed Avshar because he thought he was the strongest man in the world, but Krispos beat him, so that means that Krispos is the strongest and he must serve him.

 

* Somewhat subverted with Isabella on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. She specifically states that she wants to be on the winning side, and this (along with an [[Woman Scorned|ill-timed break up speech]]) is what causes her to turn ''against'' Robin and the outlaws.

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[Sdrawkcab Name|Grobyc]] from ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' is this.

** When reaching the village of Haven, which is isolated from most of the Darkspawn invasion, Sten will threaten to take control of the party because he feels you are too weak and thinks you are fleeing from the battle. Once you beat him in a duel he admits that you are strong enough and will follow you with no more complaints.

{{quote|"Peacekeepers, scarrans, what does it matter who rules? I'll never be in charge. I'm just doing what I have to to survive."}}

* In the ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]]'' video game, if chosen as the player character, Kamen Rider Strike, originally having joined [[Big Bad|Xaviax]] because he percieved him as strongest, comes to believe that good guys have better odds and decides to turn on Xaviax. While his ending does have him saving the world, the story mode still pits him against the heroes...

* In ''[[Killzone]]'', ISA gets a good deal of traitors amongst them throughout the invasion of Vekta, Adams shut down the defense line that allowed the invasion to happen and the Colonel allowed nuclear weapons to fall into enemy hands.

* The [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Dual Blade]] ''[[Lufia and The Fortress of Doom]]'' behaves like this.

** Also in the case of the Civil War, if the Stormcloaks win, {{spoiler|Jarl Elisif, who Ulfric Stormcloak widowed to become High King, will submit to the Stormcloaks since the Empire is now gone from Skyrim and she has no other choice. She still despises Ulfric however.}}

** An interesting variation. Paarthurnax betrayed Alduin and sided with Mankind during the last Dragon War, teaching the Ancient Nords the Thu'um, which allowed them to turn the tide and defeat Alduin and his followers once and for all. Essentially, Paarthurnax chose to follow the strongest side as all Dragons do... he just happened to ''make'' them the strongest side first.

* You meet a ''lot'' of these guys in the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series. A lot of characters won't join until you have a castle of a certain size, which depends on how many other characters have joined you; some won't join until you have a certain number of characters, period. The implication is that they want proof you have a large enough army to do anything before they sign up.

* A (semi)heroic example in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'': {{spoiler|Zelos}} utters this line after {{spoiler|betraying the party to Yggdrassil}}. Of course, {{spoiler|[[Multiple Endings|in all but one of the endings]] [[Changed My Mind, Kid|he turns out to be lying.]]}}

* ''[[Warcraft|Warcraft 3]]'' has Varimathras, a Dreadlord who switches sides to avoid being killed by Sylvanas, and who even has "[[Lampshade Hanging|I'm always on the winning side]]" as one of his responses. In ''[[World of Warcraft]]: Wrath of the Lich King'' {{spoiler|it's revealed that he lied and never left the Burning Legion, using his position as second to Sylvanas to be [[The Starscream]].}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** In the [[Transformers]] mythos, most Decepticons or Predacons serve only the [[Asskicking Equals Authority|most powerful]] among the faction. Should a leader be deposed through either trickery or combat, the bulk of the army will quietly settle under the usurper's authority without much in the way of objection after the dust settles (though the process is rarely smooth if the usurper isn't up to snuff). As far as the 'Cons are concerned, you're only worthy of authority if you can hold onto it. If somebody else takes it, then they deserved it more than you. As you'd imagine, this policy tend to lead to a ''lot'' of [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|scheming]] among the [[The Starscream|higher ranks]].

 

* [[Older Than Feudalism]] with the story of St Christopher; a warrior that went out to search for the strongest lord to follow. He found the strongest living man in the world but also learnt that he was afraid of the devil. Then he learnt that the devil was scared of God and went on a search to find him. After an eventful river-crossing he found Jesus and learnt the weight that rests on his shoulders and forever served him...before being killed by Roman Emperor Decius. Of course being a saint martyrdom did nothing to cramp his style.

* There's an old tale about a man who goes in search of the most fearsome thing in the world. He makes progress by asking each creature to tell him its fear, and works his way up to some mighty, powerful being ... only to find that the mightiest giant fears something tiny and weak, taking him full circle.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

[[Category:Friendship Tropes]]