Orcus on His Throne: Difference between revisions

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Possibly justified, since [[Dystopia Is Hard|maintaining order in one's domain can be a really time consuming task]], what with all [[You Rebel Scum|those Rebel Scum]], [[Surrounded By Idiots|stupid henchmen]], [[The Starscream|backstabbing lieutenants]], and the other daily tasks an [[Evil Overlord]] has to face everyday. Not to mention that any tactician will endorse the benefits of a fortified position surrounded by your most powerful servants. Then again, what kind of [[Evil Overlord]] doesn't take the time to smell the roses, pillage a village, and give a hero a good [[Final Boss Preview]] every once in a while? They deserve a little "me" time, too!

The [[Big Bad]] might also be spending all his/her/its time offscreen searching for a [[MacGuffin]] ([[Lost Superweapon]], [[Artifact of Doom]], etc.) that would render conventional means of conquest [[Golden Snitch|unnecessary]]. Why waste time and effort commanding the [[Legion of Doom]] when you could conquer/corrupt/destroy the kingdom/country/world/galaxy/universe/[[Doctor Who (TV)|REALITY! ITSELF!]] with the push of a button? When they ''do'' get off their throne, expect them to be a [[Mobile Menace]]. Still, it's easier to send [[Mooks|their minions]] out to do this instead, which is probably another reason they never have to leave the castle. In the case of a [[Non Action Big Bad]], the villain acts like this because personally, they ''don't'' have power, or at least not the sort that would be [[Authority Equals Asskicking|useful in direct combat]], and they primarily work through their subordinates.

The [[Big Bad]] might also be spending all his/her/its time offscreen searching for a [[MacGuffin]] ([[Lost Superweapon]], [[Artifact of Doom]], etc.) that would render conventional means of conquest [[Golden Snitch|unnecessary]]. Why waste time and effort commanding the [[Legion of Doom]] when you could conquer/corrupt/destroy the kingdom/country/world/galaxy/universe/[[Doctor Who (TV)|REALITY! ITSELF!]] with the push of a button? When they ''do'' get off their throne, expect them to be a [[Mobile Menace]]. Still, it's easier to send [[Mooks|their minions]] out to do this instead, which is probably another reason they never have to leave the castle. In the case of a [[Non-Action Big Bad]], the villain acts like this because personally, they ''don't'' have power, or at least not the sort that would be [[Authority Equals Asskicking|useful in direct combat]], and they primarily work through their subordinates.

Compare [[Not So Omniscient Council of Bickering]]. Contrast [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]] and especially [[Kingpin in His Gym]], where the villain is shown maintaining an active training regimen, potentially in anticipation of the hero's arrival.

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There's more to this story, but first -- ''[[We Wait]].''

== Anime and Manga ==

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** The Emperor is effectively sustained by life support on his throne (and has been for millennia), so he may count as an example too. He's ''less'' of a villain, but this is [[Evil Versus Evil|Warhammer 40,000]] we're talking about.

*** And despite literally sitting on his throne, The Emperor still occasionally deals with problems himself. The best known example is the Storm of The Emperor's Wrath, which is exactly what it sounds like.

* Many, many Darklords in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]''. The most extreme example is Soth, who spent decades literally just sitting on his throne because he didn't care any more. It has been theorized that the Dark Powers let him escape Ravenloft because he ceased to be of any interest, in contrast to Darklords like Strahd, Drakov, or Azalin whose existence is a constant cycle of [[Yank the ~~Dogs~~ Chain]].

* Many, many Darklords in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]''. The most extreme example is Soth, who spent decades literally just sitting on his throne because he didn't care any more. It has been theorized that the Dark Powers let him escape Ravenloft because he ceased to be of any interest, in contrast to Darklords like Strahd, Drakov, or Azalin whose existence is a constant cycle of [[Yank the Dog's Chain]].

* ''[[Exalted]]'': The Deathlords once unleashed the Great Contagion, a plague that wiped out 90% of all life in Creation. Then they did nothing but plot for millennia. Somewhat justified, in that their [[Eldritch Abomination|Neverborn]] masters really hate failure. The First and Forsaken Lion was welded into his own armor -- painfully -- for screwing up his own plan by encouraging the Fair Folk to run wild and incidentally add strength to reality, and Princess Magnificent With Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers was almost fed to Oblivion for losing hold of her shadowland until the Lion spoke up for her. If one of them's going to come up with a fiendish plan to destroy Creation, they're going to make damn sure it ''works'' first. Amusingly, this might be [[Nice Job Fixing It Villain|the sole reason Creation still exists]] - if the Neverborn had been willing to stomach a few failures instead of [[You Have Failed Me|terrifying the Deathlords too much to try]], the destruction of the world might have been a done deal already. Though, in fairness, one probably can't expect much management skill from half-dead, maddened [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]. This, more than any other reason, is likely why the Neverborn have deliberately set about having the Death Lords unknowingly train their own replacements (that being the Abyssal Exalted).

* ''[[Exalted]]'': The Deathlords once unleashed the Great Contagion, a plague that wiped out 90% of all life in Creation. Then they did nothing but plot for millennia. Somewhat justified, in that their [[Eldritch Abomination|Neverborn]] masters really hate failure. The First and Forsaken Lion was welded into his own armor -- painfully -- for screwing up his own plan by encouraging the Fair Folk to run wild and incidentally add strength to reality, and Princess Magnificent With Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers was almost fed to Oblivion for losing hold of her shadowland until the Lion spoke up for her. If one of them's going to come up with a fiendish plan to destroy Creation, they're going to make damn sure it ''works'' first. Amusingly, this might be [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|the sole reason Creation still exists]] - if the Neverborn had been willing to stomach a few failures instead of [[You Have Failed Me|terrifying the Deathlords too much to try]], the destruction of the world might have been a done deal already. Though, in fairness, one probably can't expect much management skill from half-dead, maddened [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]. This, more than any other reason, is likely why the Neverborn have deliberately set about having the Death Lords unknowingly train their own replacements (that being the Abyssal Exalted).

** Additionally, they all want to be the one to destroy the world themselves, which means they spend a lot of time keeping an eye on each other to make sure no-one else gets the glory. Really, if they could put aside their differences and team up, they might be a more credible threat. (Some treatments, such as Eye and Seven Despairs, or the Lover have been presented as being more interested in the distractions and satisfactions of existence, and have strayed from the path of seeking Oblivion as anything other than lip service.)

* In ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'' there's Hastur. Sure, the Rapine Storm does all of his dirty work, but if a Great Old One - even a weakened one - actually entered the [[Melee a Trois]] himself, it would be over very quickly. It's implied that he's actually ''unable'' to leave his domain on the Plateau of Leng, but he's an [[Eldritch Abomination]], so it's hard to say for certain.

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** This is actually explored in later games, which have shown gym leaders (and sometimes Elite Four as well) outside of their gyms. In ''Platinum'', the gym leaders, Flint and some other characters will visit the player's villa; in HeartGold/SoulSilver, the gym leaders appear outside of their gyms at certain times where you can take pictures of them and such, and they will also commute to the Fighting Dojo for rematches. ''[[Pokémon Black and White|Black and White]]'' explores it further, depicting all the Gym Leaders as having another job alongside their Gym duties (though generally their Gym and the other job are housed in the same building). Meanwhile, the champion Alder is shown to spend most of his time away from the Pokémon League; the trope is, however, played entirely straight with Grimsley of the Elite Four, who is never seen outside of the League. Interestingly, Grimsley uses the Dark-type... deliberate reference there?

* Draak, the [[Big Bad]] of the PC adventure game ''[[Darkstone (Video Game)|Darkstone]]'', is like this. It's somewhat [[Justified Trope]] in his case, as he's so corrupt he doesn't have a chance of collecting the [[MacGuffin]] pieces the player character is seeking. All he can really do is send out his hordes of evil and hope that they sufficiently screw things up for the Pure of Heart. In one of the randomly-generated quests, he actually does put in an appearance (in human form, as opposed to his usual dragon body), but all he does is make some snarky comments and threats before wandering off and letting a minion fight for him.

* The Illusive Man in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe does most of his villainy/[[Well Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremism]] from [[Cool Chair|his chair]], but it's acceptable, since he's a leader, not a soldier. Plus, if you had an office as awesome as his, you'd never want to leave either.

* The Illusive Man in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe does most of his villainy/[[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremism]] from [[Cool Chair|his chair]], but it's acceptable, since he's a leader, not a soldier. Plus, if you had an office as awesome as his, you'd never want to leave either.

** Averted however with Harbinger. While he hasn't actually fought anyone himself, he frequently [[Memetic Mutation|ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL]] [[Villain Override|of one of his troops]] to assist in taking down [[Player Character|Shepard]].

** In the book ''[[Mass Effect (Franchise)/Retribution|Retribution]]'', the Illusive Man does personally supervise a project... which promptly gets ambushed by a whole army of turians. His escape confirms our hypothesis about his combat skills, as, though he ''can'' fight, he's hardly end boss material.

* Played with in ''[[Evil Genius (Video Game)|Evil Genius]]''. While the player (as the titular [[Card Carrying Villain]]) can send his minions out into the world to commit various acts of camp villainy, most of your time is spent maintaining the evil base.

* Played with in ''[[Evil Genius (Video Game)|Evil Genius]]''. While the player (as the titular [[Card-Carrying Villain]]) can send his minions out into the world to commit various acts of camp villainy, most of your time is spent maintaining the evil base.

** And once they obtain enough loot to keep their minion's loyalty up, the player's avatar will probably spend all their time skulking in their sanctum out of the way of wandering assassins.

* Xemnas in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]: 358/2 Days'' spends the entire game sitting on his throne and making vague proclamations as to the aims of the organization. This a a particularly fun example, because ''Days'' has you playing as one of the minions that Xemnas does his dirty work through.