Inspector Javert: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''''Inspector Javert''': Once a thief, forever a thief! What you want you always steal! You would trade your life for mine? (...) If you let me go, beware, You'll still answer to Javert! ''

 

 

He does not realize that the hero is either [[Clear My Name|Wrongly Accused]], or has already redeemed himself for crimes done long ago. Inspector Javert may be the reason the hero has to keep moving among [[Adventure Towns]]. Often the only way to slow him down is to defeat other violent criminals, then leave them for the Inspector to arrest and process before he can resume the chase.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Detective Heinrich Runge in ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' takes this to the point that [[Deconstructed Trope|he knowingly destroys pretty much his entire life.]]

* Toshio Wakagi in ''[[Codename: Sailor V]]''.

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Cowboy Funk", Cowboy Andy mistakes both Spike and Jet on seperate occasions of being the Teddy Bomber... even with the real Teddy Bomber standing right next to them both times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

== Film ==

* While Inspector Uhl in the film ''[[The Illusionist]]'' is tireless in his pursuit, he is a likeable guy and more of an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] than an actual villain.

* The Operative in ''[[Serenity]]'' is a case where a government assassin fits the character type. He's after River in order to [[He Knows Too Much|protect the Alliance's secrets]], and doesn't ask what those secrets are because [[Knight Templar|he believes wholeheartedly in the Alliance's vision of a "world without sin."]] He only stops when {{spoiler|[[Heel Realization|his idealistic vision of the Alliance is shattered with the knowledge of River's secret]]}}.

* Detective Spooner in the film ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]'' is a subversion, as he is the main character. In his determination to [[Noble Bigot with a Badge|apprehend Sonny for murder]], he stumbles across something even more sinister... {{spoiler|And it turns out he's right.}}

* And [[Les Misérables|the original]] deserves a mention, too. In his face, the narrator describes seeing "what could be called [[Pure Is Not Good|all the evil]] [[Lawful Good|of good]]."

* John Mandrake, from the ''Bartimaeus'' trilogy, is a fairly high-ranking government official charged with wiping out the Resistance. He genuinely believes the Government to be in the right, {{spoiler|and continues hunting down the final member of the Resistance until the government collapses and demons attack London.}}

* The Furies in the first ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' book

* Jan Bublanski in ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|The Girl Who Played with Fire]]''.

* [[Sherlock Holmes]] and his brother, Mycroft, in the ''[[Enola Holmes]]'' series. In this case, they are simply doing what they thought was right trying to find their naive 14 year old runaway sister and force into Finishing School before something terrible happens to her. However, by the end of the series over that year of hunting her, Sherlock slowly realizes that Enola has grown into a capable young woman and a brilliant professional detective in her own right. As such, his determination to capture Enola fades until he helps her prove herself to Mycroft who soon respects her liberty.

** Carcer is also a [[Serial Killer]] and [[Complete Monster]] that really needs to be tried, found guilty and executed to stop his troublesome habit of killing people for his own pleasure; as one of his co-conspirators points out, he's the kind of man who joins the military solely for the pillaging.

** If anything, Vimes is an ''inversion'' of this trope. Really, the best way to explain it is that the original Javert sees justice as punishment of the guilty, while Vimes- flawed man that he may be- wholly believes it's protection of the innocent.

 

 

* Miko Miyazaki from ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' at first, until she pretty much [[Obstructive Zealot|goes off the deep-end]] thinking she is the 12 gods' vessel.

* Agent Rammer from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' relentlessly tries to capture Dr. Schlock and Aylee, who are, admittedly, often on the murky side of the moral spectrum.

* Captain Jhalm from ''[[Digger]]'' believes that Digger is dangerous and repeatedly tries to capture her.

** To be fair, he tells Digger that he had almost learned to trust her...and then she led an angry hyena warrior right to him, and he lost an eye in the battle. Granted, Digger did not set Jhalm up on purpose, but she walked away rather than help him, and later made friends with the hyena.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Agent James Bennet in ''[[The Zeta Project]]'' genuinely believes that Zeta has been turned against them and is a threat. Despite the number of times he has saved people, the comments of his own team, not to mention the time Zeta saved his own son.

** This may have changed when {{spoiler|he overheard the chip in Zeta's head was an conscious chip, and is indeed not with the terrorists}}. However the show was canceled before anything could be shown.

* ''[[Swat Kats]]'': Commander Feral, continually running them down to the media for the property damaged caused by actually stopping the threats to the public. At least partially because he and the Enforcers are unable to.

* Flint in ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]''.

* ''[[WALL-E]]'': The Microbe Obliterator (M-O) takes great pride in his work. Whatever contaminants enter his domain are throughly purged with the efficiency only a robot can have. He sees WALL•E as a cancer upon the great Axiom, as the trash-compacting robot unintentionally leaves filth and pestilence in his wake. M-O knows not and cares not for why WALL•E has come to the Axiom. He only knows that WALL•E must be cleansed. Nothing will distract him from his goal. Not distance, not danger, not even the rules that he has lived by his entire life. The road is long, for he must purge the filth that serves as his trail to the heretic. But when he finds WALL•E, he will be at his weakest. He will be at his mercy. And he will be ''cleansed''. {{spoiler|And then they'll become BFF.<ref>For those without a sense of humor, M-O is pretty much the most adorable example ever. He's actually after WALL•E because WALL•E is threatening his germ free domain. After giving WALL•E a thorough clean-up, they become best buds.</ref>}}

* Leela is like this towards Fry when they first meet on [[Futurama]].

* The Van Helsing parody Ludwig Von Goosewing in ''[[Count Duckula]]'', who is fundamentally incapable of grasping that his quarry is a harmless [[Vegetarian Vampire]].

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Knight in Shining Tropes]]

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Cops and Detectives]]