Noble Top Enforcer: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
The
Generally one of the more dangerous types of [[The Dragon]] for two reasons. 1. These dragons are often VERY skilled combatants and/or very intelligent, mitigating their low position on the [[Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness]] by being very competetent, being at the very least "credible" on the [[Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness]]. 2. Should the [[Big Bad]] do something [[Moral Event Horizon|so vile that it truly pisses them off]], the
Tend to be extremely popular characters because they're highly sympathetic. Having to kill one in a boss fight tends to make the player [[Player Punch|feel rotten about it]]. Their deaths are a common [[Tear Jerker]].
Subtrope of [[The Dragon]]. Sub type of [[Anti
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* While it's left unclear for a long time if Athena in ''[[Appleseed]]'' is an [[Anti
* Haku, Zabuza's dragon from ''[[
* Most [[Dark Magical Girl
* Fate Testarossa in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' before her [[Heel Face Turn]].
* ''[[Desert Punk (
* Abelia in ''[[Now and Then, Here
* Christopher Armalite in ''[[
* Freed Justine of ''[[
* Bismarck Waldstein is this to Emperor Charles Zi Britannia of the ''[[
* Ashram in ''[[
* Folken de Fanel to Emperor Dornkirk in ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]''. He really did want to see less violence in the world, and [[Heel Face Turn|eventually decided]] that [[Utopia Justifies the Means|the Emperor's Plan]] wasn't really working for him.
== [[Film]] -- Animation ==
* Kronk from ''[[The
* Although he never objected to Captain Hook's actions, it's clear that Mr. Smee from ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]'' is considerably less evil than his boss, being more of a [[Punch Clock Villain]].
* Mirage to Syndrome in ''[[The Incredibles]]''. She turned on him after [[Moral Event Horizon|he ordered a plane known to have children on board shot down.]]
** Not to mention showing absolutely no concern for her life when Mr. Incredible had her by the throat.
* Cutter to General Mandible in ''[[
== [[Film]] -- Live Action ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
* Damodara in ''[[Belisarius Series]]''. [[Reconstructed Trope]] by making the dynamic among the leaders of the Malwa Empire into a major and central plot point.
* In ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In the ''[[
* Villamax to Trakeena in ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'', who becomes pissed when Trakeena goes too far. He dies for it though.
* Before the events of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Teal'c was this to Apophis. Apophis had crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]] well before Teal'c's birth, so his reason for betraying him was more "at last I can".
* [[Star Trek:
== [[Video Games]] ==
* General Leo in ''[[
* Harpuia in ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' compared to Copy X. Heavily implied that his reign in Neo Arcadia was considerably more fair than Copy X's.
** Craft to Dr. Weil as well.
* Garl Vinsland to Maiden Astraea in ''[[
* Eltoshan and Ishtar in ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral]]''.
* [[Fatal Fury|Billy Kane]], [[Big Bad|Geese Howard's]] [[Undying Loyalty|right-hand man]]. He's not evil, and is more morally upright than his boss. It doesn't hurt that he has no dark ambition, and is simply acting as Geese's enforcer to ensure that his younger sister [[Morality Pet|Lilly]] is accommodated for. In fact, he seems to harbor no ill-will towards his boss' nemesis [[The Hero|Terry Bogard]] and is pretty civil towards Terry & co, unless [[Boisterous Bruiser|Joe Higashi]] [[My Sister Is Off
* Both Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam von Branstein start out this way in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' before their [[Heel Face Turn]].
** Note, this applies more to Sanger, seeing as his debut game has him serve a batshit insane version of a woman he deeply cared for, and in subsequent appearances in the Alpha canon, she's back to being a good guy. In the Original Generation games, he worked for Bian Zoldark, who was actually a good guy (using a [[Necessarily Evil]] [[Plan]] ith his buddy Maier V. Branstein). Likewise, Elzam worked for both Bian and Maier (his father), and both guys turn out to be [[Good All Along]] once you get past the faux evil mask.
* {{spoiler|Kratos to Mithos}} in ''[[
* ''[[
* {{spoiler|Persephone, Elvis, and Fereydoon}} in ''[[Wild
* Harle from ''[[
* General Morgahn to Varesh Ossa in ''[[Guild Wars|Guild Wars Nightfall]]''. He stays with her out of blind loyalty, refusing to believe that she's as much of a monster as you claim – until she desecrates the Font of Lyss, at which point he joins your cause.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', Benezia joined Saren to be this, hoping to rein him in a bit. It backfired and she ended up [[Brainwashed and Crazy|indoctrinated by Sovereign]], and the best she could manage in the end was to [[Dying
* Milhaust Selkirk in ''[[
* Solymr to his master King Magnus in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' ''IV''. Back when Magnus was still a good man, he freed Solymr from his prison. The grateful genie swore to serve Magnus for as long as he walked the world, not knowing that Magnus was immortal. Unfortunately, Magnus was unhinged by the destruction of their original world that forced the survivors to move to Axeoth. [[The Evils of Free Will|Blaming free will]], Magnus devoted himself to perfecting [[Mind Control]] [[Magitek]] that would give him power over all of Axeoth to ensure that the tragedy that destroyed his previous kingdom and world would never happen again. Solymr disagreed with this course of action, but remained loyal to Magnus out of lingering gratitude, sympathy, and the fact that he was bound by his oath. In the "Price of Freedom" campaign, Solymr eventually realizes that Magnus needs to be stopped and uses the loophole that [[Exact Words|Magnus technically isn't walking on their original world but on a new one]] to break free of his servitude and join [[The Hero|Emilia Nighthaven]].
* Both {{spoiler|Mr. Mach}} and {{spoiler|Baryl}} are this in ''[[
* [[
* ''[[
* The lightside Bounty Hunter in ''[[Star
* Although he's hardly the '[[Big Bad]]', ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' has this sort of relationship between Otomo Sorin and Tachibana Muneshige. Sorin is a [[Jerkass]] [[Sissy Villain]] and the resident leader of a [[Path of Inspiration]], while Muneshige is the ideal [[Samurai]] ([[Beleaguered Assistant|and extremely mistreated]]).
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[
** Sort of. Redcloak's goals may be sympathetic, but he is more than willing to do everything Xykon is willing to do if it furthers the Plan. ''[[Start of Darkness]]'' also points out that {{spoiler|Redcloak's devotion to the Plan is now primarilly because it allows him to justify all the goblins who have died in its pursuit, and less because of its potential to help the goblins.}}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* During his brief stint as [[Co
* Bruton from ''[[Dinosaur]]''.
* Paige from [[Tron Uprising]] who serves [[Big Bad]] General Tessler out of gratitude for saving her life but does not condone some of his more extreme actions.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* General Erwin Rommel, [[Trope Namer]] for [[Magnificent Bastard]], actually did quite a bit to protect Jews during Nazi reign, not to mention, his units having a much cleaner record than other Nazi units. He was so well respected as a military leader that when his treachery was discovered, he was allowed to commit suicide, rather than be painfully executed.
** Several Wehrmacht generals had shades of this. General Franz Halder and Field Marshal von Bock in particular. Averted however with most of Hitler's entourage - [[Fat Bastard|Goering]], [[Ass in Ambassador|Von Ribbentrop]], [[Yes
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