Large and In Charge: Difference between revisions

[[File:bowser-large-and-in-charge 1913.png|link=Super Mario Bros.|frame|[[Sarcasm Mode|Gee, I wonder who's the boss]].]]

 

 

The tendency to visually depict leaders of an organization as large, physically intimidating people. Sort of makes sense, because people are more likely to follow orders from a big guy than a small one. Abundant in video games since these guys need to be able to make impressive bosses as well and players like big targets. Unless they have magic or machines for that, but even then they tend to be pretty big. While most commonly this trope applies to villains there are still some heroic characters that are '''Large and In Charge'''.

Because [[Evil Is Bigger]], this is more prevalent among villains. This applies to most of the brutish types of [[Exclusively Evil]] fantasy races, like Orcs, Hobgoblins, and some of the [[All Trolls Are Different|many, many types of trolls]].

 

 

Sometimes found in real life- in the modern world, elected leaders are generally of average or greater height. However, this is rarely taken to the kind of extremes found in video games.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* The [[Big Bad]]s of each ''[[One Piece]]'' arc are often unnaturally large, despite mostly being human.

** Also from ''[[One Piece]]'', Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, is a very large man, easily dwarfing some of his lieutenants who are themselves quite large.

** Averted with the Straw Hats. Luffy isn't the tallest of the crew. Franky and Brooke easily tower over him and Zoro and Sanji are also taller than him. Even Robin is taller than Luffy.

*** To be fair, Robin is around 6'2 and also taller than Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji.

* Lordgenome from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', who's at least seven feet tall and densely muscular. Even more so with Thymilph the Crasher, first among his four generals and literal 800 Pound Gorilla.

* ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'' takes this to truly ridiculous extremes. Everybody in the entire series is approximately human-scaled or smaller, except for the Queen of the Garden of Light, who I suspect could dance with an average Gundam, and her opposite number Dark King (or Evil King or however we're translating it this week), who is about the same height as her but has no legs (so a "complete" Dark King would be even bigger).

 

== Comic Books ==

* The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain the Big Man is a very tall and powerfully built man with a very intimidating voice, {{spoiler|but [[Subverted Trope|subverts]] this because in reality, he's Frederick Foswell, a reporter for the Daily Bugle, a small, meek individual who uses a padded suit, a mask, and a voice modifier to better look and sound the part of a criminal mastermind. In the comics, his daughter Janice later pulled the same trick as the Big Man.}}

** In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' [[Animated Adaptation]], the Big Man is ostensibly revealed as [[Evil Albino]] and [[Villain with Good Publicity]], Tombstone, a tall, powerfully built man with an [[Scary Black Man|intimidating voice]]. {{spoiler|But he may yet be a [[Man Behind the Man|frontman]], because he speaks of the Big Man in third person, and Foswell once mysteriously said he ''knew'' that if anyone was the Big Man, it wasn't Tombstone}}.

* Geoffrey Wilder from ''[[Runaways]]''.

* Averted in Image Comics' ''WildC.A.T.S.'' - Jacob Marlowe (Lord Emp) is the multi-millionaire financier as well as the team leader. He's also shown to be rather far below average height. (Four feet tall wouldn't be far off, though with scales being what they are in comics, it's sometimes hard to say.)

* For a heroic female example, look no further than "Ma" Hunkel of the ''[[Justice Society of America]]''. She may be in her '80s, but she's still pretty huge and capable of kicking your ass (and then baking you cookies). Even more so back in her heyday, when she ran around as a superhero, the Red Tornado.

* Subverted in ''[[Fables]]'': The Adversary appears to be a huge, armored warrior, but {{spoiler|the real Adversary is little old Geppetto, and the nominal Emperor the public sees is his literal puppet.}}

* In the ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]'' comic, Darth Krayt, leader of the One Sith, follows Darth Vader's legacy of being large and imposing thanks to the Vong growths in his body and armor. Many of his subordinates are tall and muscular in themselves, but he stands out even among them.

** {{spoiler|Subverted in Legacy War when he finally learns how to rid himself of the growths and he drops back down to normal human size. A trade made willingly, coming as it does with a more than equal growth in his force power and the removal of the time limit the growths place on his life span.}}

 

* Tsuruya's father in ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' is explicitly mentioned as being larger than his daughter's bodyguard, who's large as it is. {{spoiler|He's also in charge of the largest [[Yakuza]] group in the story.}}

 

== Film ==

* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films:

** Darth Vader is by far the tallest human in the series, played by the 1,82m (6'6) David Prowse. He would have been even taller had Prowse and the 2,10m (7'3) Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) not mutually agreed on which parts they would play.

** In the prequels, [[Brian Blessed|Boss Nass]] of the Gungans and Archduke Poggle of the Geonosians. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by [[George Lucas]] in the director's commentary.

** Ironically subverted with [[The Emperor|Emperor Palpatine]], the [[Big Bad|main villain]], who has the appearance of frail old man.

* The Persian "God-King" Xerxes in ''[[300]]''.

* The President in ''[[The Fifth Element]]''.

 

== Literature ==

** Played with in the case of Captain Carrot plays. He's 6'6 and has the approximate body shape of his namesake due to his hugely developed musculature. He's neither the leader of the watch nor the ruler of the city, but he has to actively work to not be any of those things, since most people obey him unthinkingly.

** Amongst others are Mustrum Ridcully (Archchancellor of UU, and apparently quite a big man), Hughton Ridcully (Mustrum's brother, and chief priest of Blind Io, and consequently the whole religious organisation in the city), Harry King (one of the biggest employers in the city, and apparently also a big man), the brothers Upright (run all the stagecoaches in the city, and again, big men, and in this case pretty portly as well). Perhaps surprisingly averted with the trolls, the most powerful troll in the city is by no means big by their standards.

* [[Ciaphas Cain]] has been stated to be one of the tallest in most groups. And he's the Commissar, which means not only is he In Charge, he has the option to shoot anyone who disagrees. (He still has to do what the Commissariat and the Inquisition say, though).

* Tigerstar of ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' is described as a very large and muscular cat with very long, hooked claws. Inverted with Scourge of BloodClan, who is so tiny that most characters wonder what the heck he's doing sitting next to Bone, who is enormous (and Scourge's [[The Dragon|Dragon]]). Scourge quickly proves that his small size gives him speed and agility, which coupled with his ruthlessness make him one of the [[Asskicking Equals Authority|most lethal combatants in the series.]]

** Men of Númenor were noted for generally being taller than typical Men, and their height was often indicative of their personal power and social standing. Elendil (regarded as the greatest Man of his age) was about 8 feet tall. Height as a measure of power and standing was also typical among the Elves.

** Another Tolkien example is the Great Goblin from ''[[The Hobbit]]''.

* Gilgamesh in ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.

* In ''[[Watership Down]]'', the largest rabbit is almost always the leader of their warren. General Woundwort, for instance, is described as approaching the size of a hare and is immensely strong. {{spoiler|The protagonists end up being an exception, with the average-sized Hazel being the Chief Rabbit. In fact, Woundwort assumes Bigwig to be the chief because of his size, and is disturbed when it turns out he isn't -- Bigwig is at this point successfully fighting him off. He assumed the chief rabbit was even bigger.}}

* In the ''[[Rod Albright Alien Adventures]]'', the monster Smorkus Flinders is the leader of his race by dint of his size. The monsters have difficulty understanding any other form of hierarchy.

 

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[Blackadder]]'' kings played by [[Brian Blessed]].

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', Cyber Controllers tend to be larger than normal Cybermen, and Emperor Daleks tower over normal Daleks. {{spoiler|Except when said Emperor is Davros. Even then he wears casing to made himself seem bigger in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S25/E01 Remembrance of the Daleks|Rememberance of the Daleks]]''.}}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' models from the "Headquarters" section of the Codices tend to be noticeably larger than rank-and-file figures, the better to accommodate details like the [[Bling of War]]. Alternatively, a model's status can be measured by the size of his [[Shoulders of Doom|pauldrons]].

** Justified by the [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orks']] biology - not only do greenskins never stop growing, but successful or [[Klingon Promotion|aspiring]] bosses will actually bulk up and grow even faster. Exemplified in Warlord Ghazghkull, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the Waaagh!, who's nearly [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/9/98/Ghazghkull_vs_Yarrick.jpg twenty feet tall]. This all makes it very easy for Orks to tell who their superiors and underlings are, leading them to comment that humans' military hierarchy is confusing since we're "all 'bout da same size" and therefore must waste valuable time arguing over who's in charge.

** There are only two real "ranks": Grots and Bosses. A Grot is anything ''smaller'' than you, and is to be kicked and abused at your leisure; a Boss is anything ''bigger'' than you, and is to be feared and respected.

* Many monsters in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|D&D]]'' grow in size as they increase in levels. This is especially evident with the dragons, who through their lives grow from a [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse]] to an ancient wyrm the size of a big cargo plane.

* The "rulers" of the Slivers in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' are much larger than even their largest subordinates—specifically, all three have 7 power and 7 toughness, while the largest Sliver (aside from a variant designed to sabotage opposing Sliver decks) has 4 and 4. In real life terms, they would also be physically larger; the Queen is dozens of feet long, the Overlord a mashup from at least four other Slivers, and the Legion actually being a [[Hive Mind]] spread out among many Sliver bodies.

** The green Phyrexian faction is led by Vorinclex. It really fits [[The Social Darwinist|his personality]].

 

== Toys ==

* ''[[Bionicle]]'':

** Tuma for the Skrall

 

== Video Games ==

* Bowser, the Koopa King from ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''. One of the Punis even says so in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]''.

** [[Wario Ware|Wario]] (CEO of a video game company) and [[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Donkey Kong]] (informal leader of the Kong Klan of primates) fit the bill, too.

* Ugh-Zan III, the [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Serious Sam]]: The First Encounter''. While the biggest enemy you've faced so far is 50 ft tall at the very most, his height is '''330 feet'''. And he's just as bulky as he is tall.

* The boss in [[Minubeat]] is four times as big as the enemies you've faced up to this point, as well as significantly creepier and looking like a cybernetic face rather than a square.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Barry Heterodyne, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Master Payne and the Jager Generals from ''[[Girl Genius]]''.

* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' takes this to its logically ridiculous extremes by making the Vaeo Family 7-foot-tall lizards compared to the rest of the cast, and then TOP that by introducing [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Veled (head of the Celigan Military)]], who measures just under ''10 feet tall''.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'''s Skaia Battleground is based on a chess game, except both Kings are mutated humanoids the size of mountains, each wielding a scepter the size of a building. {{spoiler|Their enormous size comes from the scepter; when the White King gives up his scepter, he shrinks to the size of a largish humanoid.}}

** Also, [[Eldritch Abomination|Lord English]], the leader of [[Gang of Hats|The Felt]]. He's not the size of a mountain, but he's at ''least'' ten feet tall.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Optimus Prime and Megatron from ''[[Transformers]]'', with the exception of the gestalts and a few ''very big'' Transformers like Tidal Wave or Metroplex.

** Particularly jarring in ''[[Beast Wars]]'', after Optimus Primal carries the spark of the original Optimus and his body mutates as a result. He gains several "traditional" transformer-style attributes, and he '''towers''', being about half the size of the original Autobots ''and about double the size of the Maximals'', including Rhinox, who ''turns into a rhino''.

* Pariah Dark from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.

* In the straight-to-DVD Aladdin sequel, ''The Return of Jafar'', Iago literally says (in reference to Jafar) "He's large... and IN CHARGE!"

* Fire Lord Ozai from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' cuts a rather impressive figure, as does [[Crazy Awesome|King]] [[Badass Grandpa|Bumi.]]

* [[Meaningful Name|BigWeld]] from [[Robots]] is the biggest Robot in the movie aside from the [[Big Bad|Big]][[Incredibly Lame Pun|Bad]].

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* It's [[Older Than Feudalism]]. In art history, drawing the most important people larger than their subordinates is called [[wikipedia:Hierarchical proportion|hierarchical proportion]]. In ancient Egyptian art, the pharaohs and gods tower over the lowly workers. If men are depicted with their wives or children, the other members of the family are often at knee height.

* El Cid Campeador is known to have been 1.75m tall, well above the average for his time and country.

* More recent: The late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga stood an impressive 6'5" and [[Adipose Rex|weighed 440 lbs]].

* William Wallace is often portrayed as especially tall, if not a giant.

** With one exception, all American presidents since [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] have been taller than the average man ([[Jimmy Carter]] was average height). Yes, even [[George W. Bush]], who despite often being depicted as short by political cartoonists is actually 5 ft 11 (almost 180 cms) in height while the average American male is 5 ft 9.2 in. Bush was very particular about not appearing short while running against the 6'4 John Kerry, since taller candidates usually do better in elections.

** William Howard Taft is best known for his [[Adipose Rex|weight]] while in office as president. He actually lost about 80 lbs after leaving office.

* The French Republic had Charles de Gaulle and Jacques Chirac.

** Though those who have seen Arnie in person can attest that, impressive musculature notwithstanding, he is not, in fact, a particularly ''tall'' man...

*** He is 6' to 6'2" (1.82 to 1.88m) depending on what source do you believe, above average but not gigantic.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:Might Makes Right]]

[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]