Knowledge Broker: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"''Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere.''"
Some people are good at fighting. Some are good at thinking. Some have special powers. And some... have just the right info to make everyone else useful.
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This is the person who always seems to have the dirt on everybody. The person who runs an information-gathering system, with a network of informers.
The
This is a person who is not mysterious (Compare [[Mysterious Informant]]). Everybody knows that when you want information you go talk to this person. Usually of dubious morality. Often your innocent hero has a [[The Lancer|buddy]] who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and knows that they ought to start by talking to "Big Eddie" or whoever, cause he always "knows anything that goes down."
Sometimes the source of information is more upscale in appearance, in which case they are probably also [[The Humphrey]]. They usually want something from the hero before they hand out the information (unless they owe the Hero a favor, or have a crush on him). Often they'll want nothing more than cash, but sometimes they want the Hero to run an [[Fetch Quest|errand]] for them. Or they may trade information for information. If there is romantic subtext, she might ask the Hero to be her escort
Many times this character is relegated to a position as a [[Characters As Device|Plot Device]]. When the
If the contact is a recurring character and the
[[Real Life]] information brokers tend to be consultants who work in market research, though there are exceptions.
See also [[The Fixer]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The Daily Days, a newspaper from ''[[Baccano!]]''
* Big Ear, (because he heard about ''everything'', you know), from ''[[The Big O]]''. You know, the one with the glasses...
* Ginko from ''[[Kure-nai]]'', for the romantic subtext version. Also Shinkurou's [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]].
* Nabiki Tendo of ''[[Ranma
* Fuuchoin Kazuki from ''[[GetBackers]]'' theoretically does this for a living, although he's more often seen [[Razor Floss|kicking ass]].
* Haruo Nijima from [[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]] is a partial case of this. Though he has incredibly skills in analyzing enemies and information gathering in general, he acquires all his intelligence for the sole purpose of furthering his own goals of power.
* Information brokers are one of the most lucrative jobs people can have in the [[After the End]] setting of ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]''. The second episode has a broker [[Tempting Fate|boasting about how they're so much smarter than those idiot mobile suit pilots]]. [[Karmic Death|Then he's vaporized by the GX's Satellite Cannon]].
** Speaking of ''[[Gundam]]'', ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]'' has the recurring antagonist Kenav Luchini.
* The man [[Last-Name Basis|known only as Yamada]] in all incarnations of ''[[
* Hiruma of ''[[Eyeshield 21]]''. Like Nijima he uses it for his own gains and specializes in blackmail with it.
* Rufus Barma in ''[[Pandora Hearts]]''.
* A [[Time Skip|series]] of [[No Name Given|unnamed women]] in ''[[Mnemosyne]]'', who [[Trademark Favorite Food|drink Grasshoppers]] and take sex as payment (yeah, it's that kind of show).
* Orihara Izaya from ''[[Durarara!!]]'', though it's hard to tell whether he's doing it for the money or simply because [[It Amused Me|It Amuses Him]].
* [[Meganekko|Becky]] [[Miser Advisor|Farrah]] from ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]''.
* [[Black Butler]] has the Undertaker. He's just in it for the laughs.
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* Max Normal in early ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' comics.
==
* ''[[Dungeon Keeper Ami]]'' features Keeper Midori, who fits this Trope to a T. She keeps close tabs on all the warring factions in the story, often popping up at opportune moments- such as lulls in the fighting -to offer information on their enemies, at a price.
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* Skinny Pete from the 2003 remake of ''[[The Italian Job (2003 film)|The Italian Job]]'' acts as this for Charlie and his crew when they pull their final heist in L. A.
* [[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence|Doctor Know]]... is in the know. And is also an unreliable search engine that charges per-question, but that's besides the point.
* Leo Getz from the ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' franchise. [[Catch Phrase| "Whatever you need, Leo Gets".]] Unfortunately, he tends to [[Butt Monkey| "get" himself in trouble a lot.]]
* Dexter, the owner and chef of Dexter's Diner in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', who sells food ''and'' info, including the info Obi-Wan needs.
== Literature ==
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* Varys "The Spider" from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Having no title or wealth (being referred to as Lord out of courtesy basically), and being a foreign eunuch, he only managed to survive the overthrow of the Targaryen dynasty because of his usefulness.
* Slughorn from the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels was one.
* Chrysalis, the transparent-skinned owner of the Crystal Palace bar in the Wild Cards universe, uses a telepathic bartender and tiny spy-creatures spawned by a unique Joker to gather
* The sheer scale of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe dictates a rather absurd number of these. By ''far'' the best, though, is smuggler-in-chief [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Talon Karrde]], whose organization, which took over after Jabba The Hutt's enterprises collapsed with his death, was basically built on information brokering. He ended up [[Default to Good|defaulting to the New Republic's side]] [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal|after]] Thrawn had him kidnapped to try and coax the location of a lost fleet out of him. In the [[Hand of Thrawn]] duology, he took a certain crucial bit of intelligence to Supreme Commander Pellaeon in time for a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment, and his organization sets up between the newly at peace New Republic and Imperial Remnant, making sure information flows freely to both sides so there won't be any nasty secrets. His old mentor basically knows everything, but withdrew from galactic affairs.
** Around second place or so are the various other important smugglers, and government agents are somewhere around twentieth. Unless they're ''Thrawn's'' agents, that is, or wherever and whatever he gets his intel from.
* Pahvulti, the renegade [[Cyborg|Tech]] [[Machine Worship|Priest]] in Simon Spurrier's [[Warhammer
* [[Amoral Attorney]] Kodringer in ''[[The Witcher]]''
* Charles Augustus Milverton of the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' tale that bears his name.
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* Arvin Sloane from ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' fulfilled the role for a season, when he wasn't being the [[Big Bad]].
* That black stereotype ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'' were always going to for the 'word on the street', "Huggy Bear".
* Parodied in the shape of Johnny the Snitch on ''[[Police Squad!]]!'', the shoeshine guy who could give you information on absolutely ''everything''
* If Sam isn't performing this function in ''[[Burn Notice]]'', he knows someone who does.
* Guerrero, on ''[[Human Target]]''. How did he get that photo? "Dude, you don't want to know."
* Fin Tutuola on ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'':
{{quote|
* The final two episodes of season one of ''NCIS:LA'' centered on a
* Mycroft on ''[[Sherlock]]''. He ''is'' the British Government.
* Philip from ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' literally has all of Earth's knowledge in his head.
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** In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', this role belongs to the Mekhet clan, who have the added advantage of looking normal, and being able to acquire information directly through supernatural means (such as mind-reading, psychometry, or astral projection).
** Also, every mage, to a certain extent, though the Mysterium are the ones with the main focus on it. One [[Sourcebook]] provides detailed information on how their "knowledge economy" works.
* In the city of Sigl in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting, this is called a "tout", and given the number of planewalkers who enter the city on any given day, it is a very lucrative and profitable business. Primes are called "Clueless" for a reason, and most are willing to pay a tout for to "clue them in" at the earliest opportunity. Not to mention that information is always a valuable commodity in a city with portals that literally lead everywhere in the cosmos - some touts specialize on telling customers which portals lead where and how to open them.
== Theater ==
* Johnnypateenmike in ''The Cripple of Inishmaan'' by [[Martin McDonagh]]
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' has the Shadow Broker and {{spoiler|his}} thousands, maybe tens of thousands of employees across the galaxy. So an entire
** The sequel has {{spoiler|Liara}} take up this line of work in the two years Shepard was dead. Do her [[Fetch Quest|a few favors]] and she reveals she's doing this because {{spoiler|the Shadow Broker tried to sell Shepard's corpse to the Collectors and kidnapped her friend when she staged a rescue. So she's going to build up her network of contacts, track the Shadow Broker down, [[Revenge|and kill him]].}}
** Through Cerberus' extensive connections, the Illusive Man himself is a bit of a Knowledge Broker.
{{quote|
** The ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' DLC reveals {{spoiler|that there was an original Shadow Broker about 60 years prior. The Shadow Broker you know and love started as a hyperintelligent "pet" [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family|Yahg]] of one of the original broker's agents, who (known to the original broker) killed the agent and stole his identity, and then later usurped the Shadow Broker himself.}} You and Liara {{spoiler|track him down and kill him, resulting in Liara [[You Kill It, You Bought It|taking over the role]] with the sole intent of aiding Shepard, becoming by far your most powerful ally against the Reapers (and the [[Smug Snake|Illusive Man]] should it come to it).}}
*** Of course, there's no guarantee that {{spoiler|the Shadow Broker the Yahg usurped was the original either.}}
* ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' had a guy like this named Brains.
* Jules in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]''.
** Due to the way Archadian high society works, pretty much everyone in Archades is a
* The Oracle in ''[[Deus Ex]]'' is an AI [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|born in cyberspace from the sheer information in it]], who trades what he knows for information he does not have (this doesn't have to be of any value, a "joke you heard recently" and your breakfast are both things he requests in exchange for information). However the Oracle only appears at 2 points in the game, both in emails that are entirely optional to read, and everything we know about him is [[Word of God]].
** This is a reference to the [[
* In ''[[Star Control]] II'', this is the [[Planet of Hats|hat]] of the Melnorme, who accept "bio-data" from you in exchange for galactic history, current events, and technological specifications. [[Proud Merchant Race|They also sell starship fuel.]]
* Pretty much everyone you talk to in ''[[City of Heroes]]''. Seriously, how does Joe Shmoe know which warehouse the Trolls are selling firearms out of? Granted, many of your contacts have some relation to law enforcement or the criminal underworld, but it gets quite silly after a while.
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* Redd White from [[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]. His company, Bluecorp, was basically an information-gathering corporation that specialized in obtaining blackmail material concerning big-name individuals such as celebrities, politicians as well as high-ranked people on the judicial system, effectively making White [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|a man above the law]].
* Kage the Florist (or just The Florist) in the [[Ryu ga Gotoku]] games.
* Wiseman from the [[.hack
* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5DuwoHpEa4 I Will: The Story of London] for the Pioneer Laseractive, the man to see was Mr. Pound AKA "Antenna", who runs a Britain-wide information network. He's easily recognised as he's the only person in the entire game who carries two umbrellas in one hand.
* This sort of thing (as applied to RPGs) is lampooned early in ''[[South Park|South Park: The Stick of Truth]]'' when the player first talks to Clyde:
{{quote|'''Clyde:''' Would you like to see my wares, weary traveler. Perhaps you would like to hear tips and rumors for two dollars?
''(If Player says "Yes")''
'''Clyde:''' [[Simple Yet Awesome| Don't waste your money on tips and rumors]].}}
== Webcomics ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160328200538/http://amazingplasmaman.com/comics/62/ Ace Tanager] from [[The Incredible and Awe Inspiring Serial Adventure of The Amazing Plasma-Man]] holds a wealth of information about the citizens of Meridian City, which he gladly shares with Plasma-Man in exchange for patronage of his lounge.
* Landon from ''[[This Is Not Fiction]]'' is introduced as one, being the self-titled "Godfather of Highschool".
* ''[[Planescape Survival Guide]]'' had the [http://planescapecomic.com/7.html "info imp"], not that he was particularly helpful.
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