My Master, Right or Wrong: Difference between revisions

 

{{noreallife|calling real-life people "cruel" or "incompetent" [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|is a bad idea.]]}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Benawi of ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' hates his orders, and yet stays loyal until the end. The heroes surround the castle, and before he lets them kill his lord, he first urges him to commit [[Seppuku]], and when the lord doesn't, he kills him himself. Not out of his clear contempt, anger, or hate, but as his second.

** Later, Azuma does whatever Hades tells him to do and points out that he dislikes it.

* More or less, [[Soul Eater|Crona]] to Medusa, his/her mother. {{spoiler|She tells him/her to spy on the DWMA after he/she had made friends with them...and he/she reluctantly agrees}}.

* Played with with Goku in [[Saiyuki]], who starts the series as this towards Sanzo, and through the power of character development, realizes that he will continue west not for Sanzo, but for his own reasons. It helps that Sanzo prefers people live for their own reasons anyways, and thinks living for others is stupid (probably something to do with the fact that he once lived for the sake of his master, and was left with quite a conundrum when said master died)

* Seems to be the case with the Nations, in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]''. Several points show that the Nations follow orders that they don't understand (Russia digging a trench with no tools or food, Germany looking for the Holy Grail, America having to say the Roswell UFO was a weather balloon, etc) or don't like (Ukraine crying because her boss forbid her to see Russia). One comic also has Russia say that he can befriend the Italies only now that his boss and their boss have become allies. Exactly how strict this is not made certain, although fanfiction writers like to speculate.

* In [[Pandora Hearts]], Glen Baskerville {{spoiler|apparently}} told his servants to kill everyone gathered in his mansion {{spoiler|during the chain transferring ceremony}}. Lotti was startled and asked if he was serious but committed the act nonetheless. Much later, she admits that she never knew ''why'' he ordered the slaughter that started off the Tragedy of Sablier but that since he was her master, she would not disobey him.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Though he does explain a lot of things we already know while {{spoiler|holding his friend at knife-point by his dreadlocks over the edge of a floating island.}} I wonder what tricky situations he has in store for everyone else.

*** As we eventually find out, {{spoiler|while Espio's loyalty was still to his clan, his clan only served the Iron Dominion out of fear. When they eventually turned against the Dominion - a decision Espio himself helped the clan leader to reach - Espio was allowed to side with his friends once more}}. Notably, while he's shown to still be haunted by the guilt of his previous actions, his friends have forgiven him.

* The UK ''[[Transformers]]'' comic story "State Games" both subverts and plays this trope straight; the last Autobot Overlord, an old and enfeebled robot, and his compatriots are pinned down by a battalion of mechs that he had personally pissed off by trying to curb their civil war with a neighboring city with [[What an Idiot!|gladiatorial bloodsport]]. His comrades' only chance of survival is to ditch him and make a run for it, since his geriatric skidplate would only slow them down. One of the Overlord's two bodyguards sacrifices himself in a kamikaze run against the battalion instead of breaking his pact to protect the guy to the end. The other bodyguard, though, leaves the Overlord to rust, allying himself with a then little-known soldier accompanying them as a better choice of leadership of the planet. The latter bodyguard would go on to pull his own version of this trope during a ''[[Beast Wars]]'' storyline. His name? ''Ravage''.

* The [[X-Men|Shi'Ar Empire]] has had some real prizes on the Imperial Throne...[[A God Am I|D'Ken,]] [[The Unfavorite|Deathbird,]] and [[The Caligula|Vulcan]], among others. Through it all, Gladiator, Praetor of the Imperial Guard, remained loyal to whomever was in charge...[[Heel Face Turn|until he wasn't.]] This is something of a recurring theme in Shi'Ar storylines.

 

 

 

== Film ==

** Subverted by [[Anti-Villain|The Hound]]. At first, he's set up as being unquestioningly obedient to the Lannisters, but it's implied later on that, even if Joffrey told him to, he [[Bodyguard Crush|won't hit Sansa.]] Also, {{spoiler|he later abandons his post and leaves King's Landing, and asks Sansa to go with him.}}

* This is one of the main themes in P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' series. Among the Kencyr people, obedience to one's Lord is considered a foundation of honor; if one's Lord orders one to do something dishonorable, the feeling goes, the dishonor rests on his head, not one's own. However, the whole system is set up with the expectation that such occasions will be few, minor, and moderated by the priests and the judges. Then a situation comes up that wasn't expected; the Highlord of the Kencyrath, the highest authority in the Kencyr people, decides to betray his people to their ancient enemy in return for personal immortality, but he needs the co-operation of others, particularly those close to him in his own House, to pull this betrayal off. Do the rules of honor still apply? When the order is not simply mildly dishonorable but utter betrayal, does honor still compel obedience? Some decide that it does, and, with a heavy heart, commit atrocity. Some decide that it does not, and struggle against him. Others decide that suicide is the only honorable option, while yet others don't know the full extent of what they're asked to do until it's too late. However, honor only requires obedience to the Lord's [[Exact Words]]; some decide to obey their orders in as unhelpful a way as they can possibly get away with.

*** Mind you, the betrayal culminated in reverting to a previous master and pulling him out of his crypt.

* The faerie retainers of the Summer and Winter Courts in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' are bound to obey the orders of their Queens, whether they agree with them or not. This becomes important in ''Small Favor'', where Harry is being hunted by the gruffs, powerful retainers of Summer. When confronted by Eldest Brother Gruff, the faerie turns out to be a jovial, friendly fellow who is disturbed by his orders and dislikes having to carry them out. Fortunately, Harry is able to {{spoiler|use a favor he'd earned with Summer}} to request that Eldest Gruff {{spoiler|depart to get him a "real, Chicago doughnut."}} Eldest Gruff is happy to oblige.

* In ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'', Ray (the guy we've been led to believe is [[The Dragon]] to this point) has just witnessed first hand his leader and adopted father Habaraku (who is the real Dragon) publicly and brutally murder a helpless prisoner (and the man who tried to save her). And he brainwashed an entire church full of witnesses into watching the whole thing and cheering. Yet immediately afterwards, he makes a [[Last Stand]] to keep the protagonists away from Habaraku out of a sense of both duty (to [[My Country, Right or Wrong|his church]]) and loyalty (to the man who raised and trained him). [[Senseless Sacrifice|It doesn't end well for him.]]

* The Shadow Triad acts as this toward Ghetsis in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]''. Even when Ghetsis's real plan comes out at the end of the main storyline and everyone in Team Plasma, including the other 6 sages, turns against him, the Triad stays loyal to him, because he saved their lives long ago.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* Florence Ambrose of ''[[Freefall]]'' invokes the fable of the Loyal Samurai (above) in explaining why she continues to work for a known [[Sticky Fingers|kleptomaniac]] and all-around antisocial alien.

** Aside from technically being Florence's CO, Sam might qualify thanks to his [[Blue and Orange Morality]] - many of the traits that make Florence adhere to this trope in serving Sam are actually considered virtues in Sam's culture (on account of the fact that they're a society of scavengers who don't know where their next meal is coming from, let alone anything else), while the honesty, altruism, and integrity she tries to teach him are considered foolish quirks at best and suicidal liabilities at worst.

* [[The Starscream|Izor]], from ''[[Dubious Company]]'', is torn between this and [[My Country, Right or Wrong]]. Even when he reveals [[Batman Gambit|his plot]], he needs serious convincing by {{spoiler|Future High Priestess Sal}} to assassinate the Emperor instead of using him as a [[Puppet King]].

** Played for laughs with the royal guards of the Elven Kingdom. When the King and Queen order each other's arrest, it leads the guards to obeying [[Playing Tennis With the Boss|whoever spoke last]] until they collapse from exhaustion.

** All except [[The Starscream|one.]]

** Cyclonus in Season 3 of [[Transformers Generation 1|Generation One]] is a particularly good example of this, to Galvatron.

** Played with in ''[[Beast Wars|Beast Machines]]''; the generals Strika and Obsidian are loyal to Cybertron, first, foremost, and always...and, by their own [[Insane Troll Logic]], whoever is ''in'' control of Cybertron, at the time - ''regardless'' of who that individual is, or what his plans are - ''is'' Cybertron, and will shift their allegiances accordingly. This means, [[Lampshade Hanging|as their fellow Vehicon Thrust points out]], that they're perfectly willing to sacrifice the sanctity of the planet itself, if that is what its current despot deems necessary (which, yes, ''does'' in fact render their "loyalty" to Cybertron moot).

*** Thrust himself is a better example: twice during the second season (once at the beginning and again near the end), when it seems as though Megatron has been killed, he refuses to bury the hatchet with the Maximals, deciding, instead, to await Megatron's inevitable return. He stays loyal to the [[Grand Finale|very end]], despite knowing that completing Megatron's plans will involve {{spoiler|having his own spark ripped out and absorbed}}.

* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', it seemed like Shining Knight was once ordered to destroy a village, but it turned out to be a [[Secret Test of Character|test of his judgment, and he did the right thing by refusing]], thus being an inversion of this trope.

* Kif is this to Zapp Branagan in ''[[Futurama]]'', replete with eye rolls and groans when Zapp does something idiotic. Granted, this is implied to be not out of loyalty or respect for Zapp, but because he has gotten stuck under his recruitment somehow. His self esteem has withered to such a point that he is still surbordinate to Zapp's orders even when both are temporary fired, and he becomes absolutely giddy at the thought of getting another employer.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Loyalty Tropes]]