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Knight in Sour Armor: Difference between revisions
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* When you think about it, isn't this the sort of role [[John Wayne]] often plays? He is usually a [[Boisterous Bruiser]] as well but he is often this.
* In ''[[High Noon]]'', Marshall Will Kane tries to raise a posse to fight off four gunmen led by an ex-con who had previously made all their lives miserable before Kane threw him in prison. You'd think the population of an entire town would be able to take on four men. Only an old, one-eyed drunk and fourteen year old kid would help Kane (and he refuses them, since they wouldn't have much use in a gunfight). Everyone, who would rather live in fear than risk their lives to protect their own freedom, money, and dignity, tells Kane to leave town. [[Badass|He ends up taking on the gunmen by himself]], then abandons the town in disgust.
*
** Though unlike most of these examples
*** In the movies, anyway. In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], it's seen that he was once fairly idealistic, though never to the point of being wide-eyed.
* William Somerset in ''[[Se7en]]'' keeps trying to retire because he finds the world horrible and his work demoralizing. He frequently sermonizes bitterly about how horrible the world is. Yet he can't find it in himself to quit.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* A common character type in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'', especially among the Imperium of Man.
*
**
* [[Dungeons and Dragons]]
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' brings you the Grey Guard ''[[Prestige Class]]''. Paladins who tend to fall early and often for breaking their code in the pursuit of genuine Good (not making the job quick and easy) are sometimes approached by the knightly equivalent of the CIA. The abilities they pick up take the 'goodness and light' of the Paladin and turn it into 'goodness and Bad Cop interrogations.'▼
** The Paladin class itself flirts with being an example of this
▲** ''
** As the [[Ravenloft]] setting is bound to eat your average [[Knight in Shining Armor]] for breakfast, it's home to quite a few of these instead, striving to hold back the darkness. The game-setting's knights of the Circle function more like vigilantes or undercover operatives, keeping their heroic deeds under the darklords' radar.
** Most clerics of Ilmater in [[Forgotten Realms]]. It's sort of clear that this will not be about sparkles and singing birdies when one subscribes to follow a god of endurance and suffering, who teaches that one needs to suffer to achieve one's goal and whose dogma mainly revolves around taking the heat for innocents.
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' being what it is, most established characters with a strong moral compass fall under this category. A near-embodiment of this trope, however, is [http://www.shadowrun4.com/resources/timeline.shtml Captain Chaos].
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== Toys ==
* Kiina from ''[[Bionicle]]'' is a type 1. She's a tough, [[Ladette]] [[Action Girl]] who is dissatisfied with her planet as it is, and believes that there are other, better worlds out there. Naturally, everyone thinks she's nuts. Then, when she turns out to be right, she suddenly morphs into a [[Genki Girl]]. [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap|She got better.]]
== Video Games ==
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* Lightning in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' is a female example. She does believe in doing what's right, but the world she lives in is so messed-up she has very little "right" to believe in and she bitterly laments her fate as a cursed l'Cie.
* In ''[[LA Noire]]'', Herschel Biggs and Jack Kelso are both perfectly aware of and disappointed in the state of the Los Angeles, and how little of what they do is actually meaningful. They try their damndest anyway. {{spoiler|Protagonist Cole makes the shift from idealist to sour knight over the course of the game, despite his attempts not to, thanks to the corruption and politics endemic in the LAPD.}}
* Several characters in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' qualify for this. Rose of Sharon Cassidy is a [[The Ladette|hard-drinking and somewhat surly woman]] who also happens to have a strong moral code, being the one character who will specifically complain about the player's [[Karma Meter]] if it gets incredibly low. Also, there's Colonel Hsu and Chief Hanlon of the NCR, who despite being personally against the war (especially considering the fact that their commander, General Oliver is a [[Glory Hound]] and [[General Failure]]) do what they can for the sake of the soldiers.
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* Karkat Vantas of ''[[Homestuck]]''. He'll [[No Indoor Voice|shout]], he'll whine, he'll [[Jerkass|mock his friends and foes alike]], but ultimately he'll do the right thing. [[Deadpan Snarker|Dave Strider]] as well. In addition both Karkat and Dave are literal knights.
* Oddly enough, Davan and some of the other main characters of ''[[Something Positive]]'' sometimes come across like this. They live in a [[Crapsack World]] and are completely aware of it, but they'll go to great lengths for each other.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has a few, including Major Murtaugh, introduced as a [[Hero Antagonist]] (it's very easy around Toughs) leading an unit of a [[By-The-Book Cop|By-The-Book Rent-A-Cop]] company, then {{spoiler|got kicked out of it (it's also fairly common around Toughs, and above average outcome of being caught between two factions of an intelligence service)}} and later re-appeared as {{spoiler|"a sullied paladin questing for redemption"}}, in the words of Karl Tagon.
** Later, [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-03-16 UNS General] Apala Bala-Amin, as competent as disillusioned. She ''immediately'' arranged {{spoiler|a covert scan of a strange ship}}, and when this was partially foiled, stuck them with a "cultural attache" she herself openly introduced as someone who "knows more about ship design than most shipwrights do". And when an admiral from intelligence branch of UNS [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-04-27 tried to] use her as a [[Fall Guy]], this quickly turned into an exercise in futility and [[Stealth Insult]]s.
{{quote|We welcome our friends with open arms. And if they're not friends, well... We're big and our hugs can be a little suffocating.}}
== Web Original ==
* [[Image Boards|/tg/]] discusses this and [[Knight in Shining Armor]] at length [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/11826926/ here.] (warning: somewhat [[NSFW]]) A little before that, there was [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/10111656/ a game report] where [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Powder_Keg_of_Justice "Powder Keg of Justice"] concept emerged.
* Coltaine and to a lesser extent Win'Tyr of [[Dungeons and Drogans]].
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** Silverbolt became one in ''[[Beast Machines]]'' after being reformatted, as a result of trying to reconcile his established [[Knight in Shining Armour]] personality with the fact that as a Vehicon, he enjoyed murder, mayhem, and general evilness.
** [[Beast Wars|Dinobot]] too.
* ''[[Daria]]'' may occasionally cause some mischief and often doesn't like to get involved, but she deeply values her personal integrity and any slip maintaining it is deeply upsetting to her.
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' {{spoiler|Prince Zuko becomes this after his [[Heel Face Turn]] and becoming the [[Sixth Ranger]] and [[The Atoner]]. And while he's on the side of good now, he's still as grumpy and [[Emo Teen|emo]] as ever and still firmly believes that Aang's silly ideas about pacifism [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|should remain in air temple preschool where they belong]]. }}
* Benson on ''[[Regular Show]]'' is the [[Grumpy Bear|grouchy]], [[High-Pressure Emotion|hot-tempered]] boss who is always threatening to fire the main characters Mordecai and Rigby unless they repair the damage caused by the [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Monster of the Week|of the Week]]. Despite this, he is portrayed to be [[Benevolent Boss|an honest, courteous, and kindhearted person]] who cares about his co-workers, [[Fire-Forged Friends|even his mischievous slacker underlings]]. This was beautifully demonstrated in the episode "Benson Be Gone" which is basically {{spoiler|him getting fired and replaced with a female boss who ends up being another Eldritch monstrosity, leading to Benson [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|returning to save the day in epic fashion]]. }}
* Six from ''[[Generator Rex]]''. Despite looking and sounding like a unemotional [[The Men in Black]] agent, he has principles he won't compromise; Rex is in fact alive thanks to him, and he has admitted that he stopped being a mercenary [[Morality Pet|*because* of Rex]].
* In ''[[Moral Orel]]'', Reverend Rod Putty eventually becomes this, being one of the few characters not utterly blinded by hypocrisy and actually caring about the well-being of the main character.
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