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No One Sees the Boss: Difference between revisions
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This trope [[Running Gag|(that is, the trope that is not me)]] is often used in conjunction with [[Mysterious Employer]], [[The Don]], The [[Big Bad]], The [[Bigger Bad]], The [[God of Evil]], and villains which are [[Made of Evil]], when the bad guy in question is [[The Unseen]]. Supposedly, the guy exists, and [[We Are Everywhere|almost every person you see acts as his eyes and ears]]. At the same time, [[Shadow Dictator|no one has any idea who he is or what he looks like]], or even if "he" is really a [[The Powers That Be|"they"]]. There are also the examples where [[The Masquerade|the Boss may want people to think he doesn't exist at all.]]
[[The Chessmaster|Almost every ordeal the characters suffer through was caused, known, or controlled by him]]. Often, it's as simple as it sounds: The Boss exists, but is simply reclusive. But sometimes, the person in charge only exists as a [[Legacy Character|title, rather than a name]] and [[Legacy Immortality|is simply replaced by a successor]] if they die, [[You Are in Command Now|step down]] or [[You Kill It, You Bought It|are killed by said successor]]. Other times, the Boss spends most of his time as a faceless mook and is [[Hidden in Plain Sight]] the whole time. And lastly, there's the version where there actually IS no Boss, and it's actually been the [[Dragon-in-Chief]], [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness]] or a [[Cult]] that's been running the show by pretending to follow [[The Master]]'s orders.
This can sometimes be used by the forces of good as well, but it's not very common. Some heroic cases where this may apply are [[Mission Control]], [[The Chosen One]], [[The Messiah]], The [[Big Good]] or The [[Fake Ultimate Hero]].
This trope [[Overly Long Gag|(which is certainly not speaking to you now)]] is a [[Super
The point is, if it's not being done in-universe, it's not this trope. Usually, the audience doesn't even know themselves, but this tends to vary depending on its importance as a [[Plot Twist]]. See also [[Shadow Dictator]].
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== Videogames ==
* In ''[[Grandia 2]]'', {{spoiler|The God of Light, Granas, has been dead for centuries and the church that supposedly worships him is actually devoted to Valmar, ''the God of Darkness''.}}
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the Shadow Broker has never been seen by anyone--not even his closest operatives. {{spoiler|Turns out that the Broker is a yahg, a primitive species that are pretty much good at ''anything'' they care to try. He's later killed by Shepard and Liara, and to cement how good he was at his job, [[You Kill It, You Bought It|Liara takes his place without anyone knowing there was a change.]] In fact, this is exactly how the yahg took control from the previous Broker.}}
* In ''The [[Prince of Persia]]: Warrior Within'', the Empress Of Time fits this trope, since {{spoiler|her real identity is Kaileena, and her own underlings actually attempt to kill her at some points of the story.}}
* "The Colonel" in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2''. Specifically, at one point you're directly asked if you've ever met him in person or know any name for him besides "The Colonel". Raiden can't give a good answer, and later it's because we learn that The Colonel is essentially an AI construct who was never a real person.
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:No One Sees The Boss]]
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