Private Military Contractors: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m update links |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) replace redirect |
||
| (20 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"As long as there is man, there will be violence."
''"As long as there is violence, there will be war."
''"And as long as there is war... we will always have a job."''
|'''Anonymous'''}}
In the real world, they are usually ex-soldiers with decent to slightly-above-average equipment from the United
These characters can be both heroic and villainous; in a conflict, they usually are allied with the richest party's faction, but sometimes have a [[Honor Before Reason|strict honor code]] that prevents them from switching sides mid-battle. If they get ''too'' enthusiastic about their job, they may become [[Blood Knight
In recent years, there's come to be a distinction between a "''mercenary company''" and "''corporate mercenaries''", especially in Western (American) television and movies. The traditional mercenary who hires ''himself'' out (or himself and [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|a dozen of his best buddies]]) is seen as somewhat honest, with at least a personal code of honor of some kind (even if it's just "do the job, get paid"); determined to accomplish the mission for which he has been paid and takes his reputation very seriously; and is scrappy yet skilled. This character is usually played moderately sympathetic, or at least as an [[Anti-Hero]]. They will typically have some attention given to their, quite possibly colorful, personalities.
In stark contrast, the "''corporate mercenary''" is usually just a [[Red Shirt]] of some kind, and the "character" takes the form of the PMC corporation itself. Corporate mercs are usually depicted as being up to no good, or are the hand-puppets of some shadowy organization which is itself up to no good. They are
Note that while the trope description uses the terms "PMC" and "mercenaries" interchangeably, in the [[Real Life]] the distinction between them is very much a [[Serious Business]]. This is because the international treaties that establish [[The Laws and Customs of War]] explicitly ''forbid'' the usage of mercenaries in warfare. While true mercs might be tolerated in practice, legally they are neither lawful combatants, nor non-combatants, and thus aren't eligible for the protection and respectable treatment as per Geneva conventions, for example. When captured, they are treated as a criminal gang at best, and at worst as complete outlaws.
Private military contractors are the way that some people [[Rules Lawyer|try to weasel out]] of this ban on mercenaries. Despite largest of these companies employing armor, helicopters, light warships — sometimes just short of the full-fledged (if small) Air Force or Navy, on paper they are just your garden variety mall guards writ large, and they are not authorized to wage war on their own. Officially, these units may be employed only in some duties not involving actively engaging the enemy (though they can do this if forced), such as escorting convoys and guarding some civilian structures. In practice this mandate could be, and often is interpreted ''very'' broadly.
A PMC can provide a villainous [[The Evil Army|Evil Army]] if one doesn't actually want to insult any real country's Armed Forces. If they're too ''much'' of an army, then they are an [[NGO Superpower]].
Mercenaries are the basic, land-based version of this trope; at sea and in space, they're [[Pirates|privateers]] operating under letters of marque.
Line 27 ⟶ 28:
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The Knight Sabers of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' and ''[[Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040]]'' build their own [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|Wonderful Toys]], but pay for the materials by contracting their services.
* SMS in ''[[Macross Frontier]]''.
* The Extra Order mercs from the first arc of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', who are described as war-junkies and take things to [[Psycho for Hire]] levels at the Yellow Flag before Revy and the Lagoon Company take them down. They were probably a [[Shout-Out]] to the real-world Executive Outcomes, below.
Line 48:
* ''[[Berserk]]'' has mercenaries as its primary characters, with its lead character Guts having been trained as one from childhood. The Golden Age arc of the manga, which the anime covers, follows a mercenary company called the Band of the Hawk that Guts was a part of, and in particular the events that would lead to its idealistic leader, Griffith, undergoing a nasty [[Face Heel Turn]] and becoming Guts's number one enemy.
* The Ninja villages of ''[[Naruto]]'' are a fantasy version of this. The villages are answerable to their nation's daimyo due to their role in national security but they can contract missions with employers of other nationalities as well. Though what their lower-level [[Child Soldiers|personnel]] does can be tasks as mundane as finding cats or doing yard work, the higher-ranked missions often include bodyguards for important political figures, working in place of regular military, or assassination ([[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|not that we see them doing the last two parts very much]]).
** The Grass Country Arc was about gathering info from [[The Mole]] as a prelude to assassinating Orochimaru, and in the course of which a plot to assassinate Sasuke was uncovered. The following arc revolved around a mission to assassinate Akatsuki duo Hidan and Kakuzu before they captured Naruto. We ''do'' see stuff like that, though admittedly these are all security matters and not hired mercenary missions.
** Prior to the founding of the villages, shinobi clans more closely filled this role.
** This is also what Akatsuki did to raise funds when they weren't pursuing their own agenda. Not that we ever got to see it.
* Essentially what Hunters in ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' are. The difference is, the Hunters Guild is a looser association. Hunters take their own jobs, but the Guild provides contacts and perks.
* Arqon of ''Viper's Creed'' is a PMC tasked with the elimination of "Mech Bugs", stray war machines from a war that ended eight years prior to the story, and still attack cities at random. It is a notable example since the main characters are a pilot and his operator working for Arqon, plus their companions and the overall staff make up most of the cast. Basically the anime is ''about'' the PMC.
* Although they started out as [[La Résistance]], The Black Knights of [[Code Geass]] eventually became this. They became the military force of half the goddamn world through a contract.
* Trident from ''[[
Line 77:
== Fan Works ==
* In ''[[An Entry With a Bang]]!'', several down-on-their-luck merc groups like the Buron Cavalry were dragooned into joining Vorax's expedition to Clancy-Earth and are [[Heel Face Turn
* Naruto: Soldiers of Fortune is a Naruto fan fic where ninjas working for villages are replaced with mercenaries that work for private military contractors. Still no guns though.
* ''[[Forward]]'' features a mercenary firm called "Skyhawk Intervention" which directs a number of other mercenary companies across the 'Verse. One of the stories features a mercenary group called [[Shout-Out|Talon]] [[Fallout 3|Company]] who are the main villains for that "episode".
Line 99:
** After nearly throttling the island's governor to death, the mercenary commander then leaves him his card.
{{quote|"If you are in need of an army, just call."}}
* All the human soldiers and pilots in ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', even though they seem to represent the U.S. military, are actually ''ex''-soldiers and [[Semper Fi|Marines]] now working for the [[Mega Corp|RDA corporation]] mining Pandora.
* ''[[The Hurt Locker]]''. The protagonists run across a unit of British PMCs who've captured two Iraq insurgents for the bounty.
* In ''[[The A-Team (film)|The a Team]]'', the bad guys (at first) are from the Blackforest PMC, a thinly disguised [[Expy]] of the [[Real Life]] Blackwater.
Line 105:
* Jake Wyer and Sam French are both these in ''Fifty/Fifty''. Of course, they both come to believe in the cause they are fighting for.
* Rico and Dolworth in ''[[The Professionals (film)|The Professionals]]''.
* The [[Big Bad]] in ''[[National Treasure]]: The Book of Secrets'' is the head of a PMC, justifying why his [[Mook
* ''[[The Expendables]]'' are about a group of mercenaries who take any job they can get. It's a handy excuse for putting together some of the most legendary action heroes together and make every one a badass. There is even some nods towards the way they operate, as they find out their most recent "employer" is actually CIA looking to pass off some [[Dirty Business]] onto their shoulders.
* In ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]'', the Headless Horseman is the vengeful ghost of one of the Hessian mercenaries hired by Great Britain during the American Revolution.
== Literature ==
* The Black Company in Glen Cook's ''[[The Black Company]]'' series.
* ''[[
* Carrera's Wedge from the Takeshi Kovacs' book ''Broken Angels''.
* The Dendarii Mercenaries from [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' appear to be entirely this; in actuality {{spoiler|they're Barrayaran-employed irregulars (and still not averse to taking lucrative contracts that don't conflict with that)}}. While several galactic powers, and a few individuals, have figured out the truth, it's still not common knowledge. Even among the Dendarii themselves.
Line 120:
** Likewise the Friendlies from the same series. Although from a religious [[Planet of Hats]], the Friendlies live on poor resource worlds, that to survive they have to be hired out as mercenaries. Unlike the Dorsai though, the Friendlies suck at warfare, but their cheap price and numbers make up for it.
* ''[[World War Z]]'' has a self-proclaimed mercenary [he doesn't like the politically correct terms of PMC or Private Contractor] re-counting his experience of the war, which was guarding a mansion full of celebrities hiding out. He eventually leaves because zombies don't attack - instead, desperate civilians do, wrecking the house's defenses. He escapes.
* Present but not particularly common in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]]. Most mercenaries are pirates turned privateer for a little legitimacy and extra cash, and they're usually pretty poorly
** Aurodium Sword is basically a PMC (of the real-life "non-mercenary" sort) that provides personal security for VIPs.
** The [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Mandalorians]].
** The Mistryl Shadow Guard is this, mixed with ''[[Amazon Brigade]]''.
** There's a mercenary talent tree for the Saga Edition of the [[Star Wars]] RPG.
** The Red Moons (featured in the short story ''Blaze of Glory'') are a group of mercs who became disgruntled with the New Republic. Feeling that the Republic wasn't doing enough, the Red Moons decided to do something it.
* Robert Asprin's ''[[Phule's Company]]'' are part of the Space Legion: technically a branch of the military, but they're often hired by private groups when they're between assignments, which is most of the time. Interestingly, Regular Army units can also occasionally be hired.
* Lord Commander Staffa Kar Therma's Companions in W. Michael Gear's ''Forbidden Borders'' series.
* ''[[The Dogs of War]]'' by Frederick Forsyth, later a film starring [[Christopher Walken]].
* In ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|By The Sword]]'', Kerowyn becomes the the leader of the Skybolts, a mercenary company. {{spoiler|After Kero gets dragooned by a [[Cool Horse|talking white horse]], said Skybolts negotiate a permanent contract with Valdemar rather than lose her}}.
** And before that, Kerowyn's grandmother and her partner sign up with the Sunhawk company in ''Oathbreakers''.
* Joel Rosenberg's ''Metzada'' series has a planet of [[Space Jews]] whose only valuable export is mercenary services; which sucks, because their ancestors were exiled to an un[[
* The tie-in novels based on the original ''[[Mutant Chronicles]]'' games had "free-lancers" who performed everything from bounty hunting to corporate espionage. The armies of the [[Mega Corp
* [[Elizabeth Moon]]'s ''[[The Deed of Paksenarrion]]'' novel series has the title character run away from home to join a mercenary band. Although given that the 'band' in question are the household troops of a high-ranking nobleman, who supplements the income of his resource-poor demesne by hiring detachments of his troops out to warring city-states in another land, its more 'mercenaries' in the sense of the historical Swiss mercenaries than it is 'free company'.
** The ''[[Vatta's War]]'' series by the same author deals with these heavily, particularly the Mackensee Military Assistance Corporation whom Kylara Vatta, [[The Captain]], both hires and is hired by. The MMAC is depicted as being ''very'' strict in who they will do business with, with their contracts spelling out certain actions their employers might take where they will consider their contract terminated on the spot and withdraw immediately, in order to avoid any association with this trope's negative trappings.
* In Simon R. Green's ''[[Deathstalker]]'' books, the Families employ [[Mooks|hordes]] of these. A few of the main characters are ex-mercenaries, as well (and one of them is only helping overthrow the evil empire for the loot that will be in it for her if they succeed).
* The mercenary unit ''[[Soldiers Of Barrabas]]'', or [[Fun with Acronyms|SOBS]], (a Gold Eagle action series by Jack Hild) is ostensibly lead by a mercenary who's 'soft' on his native country, and so willingly seeks contracts that advance its interests. In truth they work directly for the US government as a [[Heroes-R-Us|deniable dirty tricks team]].
* The "Free Companies" mentioned in ''[[The Culture/Consider Phlebas|Consider Phlebas]]'' by Ian M. Banks. The [[Space Pirates]] the protagonist hooks up with like to call themselves one, but don't quite make the grade.
* ''Market Forces'' by Richard Morgan is set in a world where [[Mega Corp
* [[Tom Kratman]]'s ''[[Legion Del Cid]]'' series also uses this. The hero loses his family in a 9/11 analogue and forms a PMC to avenge them. Said PMC grows to be an NGO superpower, and then to the de facto & de jure military of the nation it's based in, Balboa.
* Turner belongs to one in the second book of [[William Gibson]]'s [[Sprawl Trilogy]].
Line 144:
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Changes'', the vampiric Red Court makes heavy use of an unidentified South American PMC to guard the Mayan temple where they're having their happy blood sacrifice holiday.
** There's also Kincaid, who is a lone gunman for hire who spends most of his time protecting the Archive but is willing to do side jobs if the pay is right. The Red Court and White Court make use of a number of mortal mercenaries, as does John Marcone's outfit when they need extra firepower. In fact, {{spoiler|Odin's troops, particularly his Valkyries,}} are for sale as hired muscle to people in the know.
* Terran soldiers in ''[[Andre Norton|Star Guard]]'' are described as mercenaries, but in fact they're conscripted by Earth's puppet government on the orders of the extraterrestrial super-government Central Control and hired out to various planetary wars.
* John Dalmas' ''The Regiment'' was made up of the T'swa, troops who didn't really care whether they won or
** They were not individually motivated by money, but the T'swa mercenaries charged a very decent price and were very insistent about doing so -- because the income generated by T'swa mercenary companies was pretty much the only foreign trade their otherwise resource-poor world had.
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', the Kencyr people live in a resource-poor area but are exceedingly good at fighting; they make ends meet by hiring their troops out as mercenaries. Judging by examples in the series, about a quarter of the Kencyr peoples are mercenaries out on contract at any one time. Their rigid honor code makes them sometimes difficult employees, but their skill keeps them hired.
* [[Conan the Barbarian]] often joins or leads mercenary units.
Line 160 ⟶ 161:
* [[Chris Bunch]]'s [[Star Risk, Ltd.|Star Risk Ltd]] series is about a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] that operate a PMC that does mainly bodyguard and anti-piracy work. The company hires outside help (like [[Ace Pilot]] Redon Spada) when they need extra manpower.
** They also repeatedly butt heads with the much larger (and decidedly malevolent) PMC Cerberus Systems.
== Live-Action TV ==
Line 168:
* The seventh season of ''[[24]]'' (as well as the TV-movie prequel ''24: Redemption'') has the Starkwood corporation, who, among other things, give weapons to genocidal African rebels in exchange for permission to use innocent villagers for weapons testing and plan attacks on American soil to get Senate investigations off their backs.
* During the first season of ''[[Jericho]]'', the PMC Ravenwood tries to loot the town of Jericho (and successfully raids the nearby towns of Rogue River and New Bern). In season 2, it is learned that they are a subsidiary of the [[Big Bad]], Jennings & Rall.
** In ''[[
* In ''[[Occupation]]'', a drama set during the Iraq War, an ex-British army soldier teams up with an American to form a PMC, which recruits another character.
* Bodie, Lewis Collins' character in ''[[The Professionals]]'', is a former mercenary. This provides the basis for the plot in a couple of episodes.
Line 178:
== Music ==
* ''Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner'' by [[Warren Zevon]]. Roland is a Norwegian mercenary hired to fight in the Congo Crisis of the 1960s. He is betrayed by a fellow mercenary and goes seeking revenge, [[Determinator|despite being dead]]. It's them implied he goes on to become a spirit of conflict, following the major ideological wars across the world and in some cases inciting them ("Patty Hearst/heard the burst/of Roland's Thompson gun/and bought it").
* ''Contractor'' by [[Lamb of God]]
* "Ride Across The River" by [[Dire Straits]].
Line 189:
** [[BattleTech]] also has both honorable mercs (the Grgy Death Legion, Wolf's Dragoons, The Kell Hounds) and dishonorable ones (the Crater Cobras, Little Richard's Panzer Brigade, the Waco Rangers). Many Pirate groups are failed mercenary units.
** This made a certain amount of sense in the setting back when even owning a rare and semi-irreplaceable [[Humongous Mecha]] made you a military force all by yourself. As the time-line has advanced and 'mech manufacture has become common it doesn't really make sense for governments to rely on mercenary units the way they are depicted to. Then again [[Rule of Cool|playing a mercenary is really awesome]].
*** It makes somewhat more sense when you consider that by that later time many of the larger big name companies that can really influence events control entire planets or even regions of space making them quasi-political entities in their own right.
* ''[[Fading Suns]]'' has the Muster guild, which offers many kinds of muscle for hire, but began as, and is still mostly made of, mercenaries.
* Pretty much the driving force behind ''[[Shadowrun]]''. Only instead of actual PMCs it's a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] thrown together by circumstance to "run the shadows". Of course there's nothing stopping the DM from ''making'' a PMC for the players to join. True PMCs do exist in the game's
** In ''[[Shadowrun]]'', there are PMCs everywhere. The most common regular police are Lone Star and Knight Errant, which are private contractor companies who employ high firepower in their protection of the urban sprawls.
* ''[[Warhammer
** ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' has a similar army in the Dogs of War. In the storyline, these mostly hail from Tilea, an analogue of Renaissance Italy and the Condottieri.
*** Plus the Empire's Free Companies, supposedly mercenary divisions but basically equivalent to militia. Odd since the regular Empire infantry dress like real-life Landsknecht mercenaries, and are closer in organization as well.
*** Plus the Regiments of Renown, particularly notable mercenary regiments you can enhance your otherwise by-the-book army with. They often have one or two additional special rules which make them stand out of the crowd.
* Since many ''[[Traveller]]'' characters have a military background, they often find themselves doing mercenary work.
* [[Dungeons
** Gnolls in particular have decided that they're going to position themselves on every side of every conflict under the reasoning that that way, they'll grow in power and influence no matter who wins. They refuse to fight each other though.
** Hobgoblins, on the other hand, are generally more of a militaristic society than one composed of PMCs, but that just makes them more valuable when they do hire their units out ot others.
** The ''[[Eberron]]'' setting has several groups, such as the troops of House Deneith and House Tharashk's ogre/troll contacts in Droaam. For non-House versions, the Red Gauntlet regiment and the Manifest Legion (mercenary ''summoners'') are also up for contracts.
** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' got a special [[Sourcebook]] "[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13961 Gold and Glory]" for most known of these, along with inherent adventure hooks. With understanding that small adventuring bands impossible to list due to great numbers and overall turnover rate also do a lot of the small-scale work in this field, and sometimes happen to hire, be hired by or grow into larger mercenary groups.
* The ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' has Blackfire, a PMC that's well-connected and clued in to the nature of the supernatural. Whether they're upstanding or bastards depends entirely on the Storyteller, though the sample adventure that comes with them implies that they're not entirely on the up-and-
* The Russian Tabletop RGG ''[[Age of Aquarius]]'' has a heroic PMC called ЗАЩИТНИК ("DEFENDER"). Like the SeeD from [[Final Fantasy VIII]] ([[Expy|by which they are inspired]]), mercenary activities are only a front for their more noble goal.
Line 219:
* A small army of primate PMC's are hired by Carmelita Fox in the third ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game.
** One of the villains in the upcoming Sly 4, El Jefe, is the leader of Private Army that specializes in taking over countries for the highest bidder.
* ''[[Army of Two]]''
** The final mission of the game is an assault on the {{spoiler|very same (corrupt) PMC headquarters that the player characters have been working for in most of the game, and at the end they decide to found their own PMC ''that won't plot attacks on American forces in order to build a case for privatizing the U.S. military''}}.
* In ''[[Command
* In ''Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.'' you play as a former Air Force working for a PMC fighting an alliance of anti-American South American states known as Las Trinidad who defects back to the Air Force once the PMC betrays the U.S. because Las Trinidad made them a better offer. To be fair, the immediate flip-flopping of the PMC for the better offer ''is'' mentioned as being against the Reykjavik Accords that legitimized PMCs in the first place, and at the end of the game, {{spoiler|in addition to repealing the Accords, the US carries out a private and probably illegal operation to assassinate the CEO of the PMC after an international manhunt fails to find him.}}
* In ''[[Act of War]]: Direct Action'', powerful mercenaries can be purchased for a limited time with "insurance" money, if the mercenaries survive half of the money is given back to you, if not you don't see a return on your deposit. The mercenaries are tiered as "Official" (Heavy Infantry and Medics), "Unofficial" (AA-Guns and Tanks) and "Illegal" (Fighter Jets and Low Yield Nukes). They also play a minor role in the storyline. When Richter goes rogue and flees the USA, he ends up having to rely on mercenaries for a few missions. The missions contain some debating regarding the morality of using mercenaries during which it is mentioned that a good chunk of the mercenaries were trained by the US even though Richter remains ethically opposed to their use.
* Among other things, the Umbrella Corporation's "Security" in ''[[Resident Evil]]'' seems to have the military strength of a small country. Specifically, the UBCS (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service) is explicitly staffed with mercenaries.
* Mantel in ''[[Haze]]'' is described as a Private Military Company, though in the game itself it's acting on its own and hasn't been hired. It's a particularly ludicrous example of this trope, since it's stated to have all but ''replaced'' all national armed forces. And Mantel is not just a PMC, but a super-corporation that has, apparently, taken over most of North America.
* ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' has you hiring mercenaries from the Association of International Mercenaries (A.I.M.) to complete your missions. A.I.M. seems to work as more of a mercenary union/guild rather than a PMC, as members are hired on an individual basis and bring just themselves plus their starting equipment if you chose to pay for it, leaving you to provide any other equipment, further training and transportation within the area of operations.
** ''Jagged Alliance 2'' would introduce the More Economic Recruiting Center (M.E.R.C.) as an alternate provider with its own membership. The locals who can be recruited for dirt-cheap salaries (with stats to match) and the rebels (who are seconded to your force without pay) are ''not'' mercenaries, however.
* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has an excessively large security division of the dataDyne hyper-corporation, which is contracted to an alien race (albeit somewhat unwillingly), as well as the protagonists workplace, Carrington Institute. The sequel and extended universe adds the contractable security sectors of another two hypercorps; Zentek and Core-Mantis Omniglobal.
Line 243:
* ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero: The Belkan War'' has beleaguered Ustio hire mercenaries to bolster their forces. You, Cipher, are one of them. Admittedly, though, no organizations are outright named. In ''Joint Assault'', player character Antares is a newcomer to Martinez Security, another one of these.
** The Scarface squadron from the first two games seems to be one of these, as well.
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' the world is secretly controlled by two holding companies. Each company has a branch dedicated to this trope, and both of them employ [[Army of Thieves and Whores|the nine playable classes]] to try to destroy the other company.
* In ''[[Air Rivals|Air Rivals/Ace Online]]'', players start as mercenaries under FreeSKA and only decide which of the two sides to join at level 11.
* The GUARDIANS Security Corporation from ''[[Phantasy Star|Phantasy Star Universe]]'' is a combination of this and [[Law Enforcement, Inc.|Law Enforcement Inc.]], but with [[A Lighter Shade of Grey]].
Line 266:
* The [[Player Characters]] in ''[[Mechwarrior]] 2 [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Mercenaries]]'', ''[[Mechwarrior]] 4 [[Name's the Same|Mercernaries]]'' and ''[[Mech Commander]] 2'' command companies of mercenaries. The original ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' had this too.
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', new Mayor Quincy Sharp has bought out part of Gotham and walled it off to serve as a replacement prison/nuthouse for Blackgate and Arkham Asylum after the events of the previous game. It is policed by a PMC called "[[Xtreme Kool Letterz|Tyger]]", which is a perfect example of the villainous corporate mercenaries subtype. They are ordered to kill anyone who tries to escape, commit [[Police Brutality]] (though it's hard to feel sorry for, say, [[Torture Technician|Black Mask]]) and at the same time let the inmates free to do whatever they want to each others (at one point deciding not to investigate a murder where the victim had his face cut off while he was still alive), are willing to kidnap innocents in plain sight and in front of journalists and throw them in Arkham City without any sort of trial, and in the end {{spoiler|they partake in the [[Final Solution|culling]] of Arkham City, and seem to be really into it}}. However, it's revealed that {{spoiler|the reason why they committed these actions was because they were brainwashed, making it a subversion}}.
* In the campaign on ''[[
* The Veteran Combat Initiative in ''[[Alpha Protocol]]''. They can end up as your allies or your
* The Crimson Lance in ''[[Borderlands]]'' was this to the Atlas Corporation, actively seeking the Eridian technology in Pandora.
* South African Vermaak 88 from ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]] 2'', by the time the game starts, news reports mention they're the largest and most lucrative private army in the world. {{spoiler|Bertrand uses Kuo's conduit gene to turn them into the "Ice men" and intends to use the now insane and superpowered mercenaries to inspire genocide towards conduits by selling them to world leaders as weapons of war.}}
Line 274:
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' takes a rather unsubtle swipe at this trope with the Black''woods'' Company, mercenaries who are undercutting the legitimate Fighters Guild by taking their jobs for cheaper and then cheating on them for profit. They're also not above {{spoiler|using hallucinogens to make the Guild massacre an innocent village.}}
* Peacekeepers International in ''[[Call Of Juarez The Cartel]]'', an Expy of Blackwater. They're CEO, Michael Duke is a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] who started selling high-end firearms to the Mendoza cartel after PI went bankrupt following an incident where they bombed a children's hospital in Iraq.
* The Warsworn in ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]'' are a faction of honorable mercenaries that make up a good chunk of the forces fighting against the Tuatha. The Warsworn were originally formed to hunt down the [[Eldritch Abomination|Niskaru]], but they were forced to become hired swords to make ends meet.
* While all the [[Mega Corp|major corporations]] in the ''[[X Universe]]'' series [[NGO Superpower|operate their own warfleets]], most said fleets are purely for protecting their own supply chains. The only true PMC in the bunch is the Split Strong Arms.
== Webcomics ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111211215815/http://www.centralcitytower.com/2011/05/faction-introduction-lancers.html The Lancers] of ''[[Project 0]]'' fall on the corporate mercenary side
* Tagon's Toughs from ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' are one group in a universe full of them. "Pranger's Bangers" are another group encountered, as well as any number of single, independent antagonists that function more like [[Bounty Hunter|bounty hunters]].
* The Majan Hunters of ''[[Cry Havoc]]'' are just one of many mercenary companies, known in universe as 'dogs of war'. These companies are seemingly used to support small national armies.
Line 291:
== Western Animation ==
* [[You Suck|Ron Stoppable]] hired these guys in the one episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' where he was filthy rich, for no other reason than so spend money as part of the [[Aesop]]. Seriously, they fought the [[Red Shirt
Line 297:
* [[The Other Wiki]] has a [[wikipedia:Private military company#List of PMCs|list]] of real-life Private Military Companies. However:
** A well-known example is the private firm [[wikipedia:Executive Outcomes|Executive Outcomes]], which contracted its former South African soldiers to win wars, not fight them. The firm, based in Africa, was responsible for several contracted wars, in which other firms that were owned by EO's parent company gained access to oil fields, diamond mines, and the like. Executive Outcomes folded in 1999, but the majority of its operators and equipment were shuffled around into other private military firms owned by the parent corporation. To add to the irony, while most of EO's members (at least initially) were ex-military of the Apartheid Era South Africa, one of their first clients was the anti-apartheid MPLA government of Angola against which they had fought during the Apartheid. EO was even pitted against their former allies, the UNITA rebels. Money is God indeed.
** UK firm [[wikipedia:Sandline International|Sandline International]] was another case of a real-life Private Military Company, and had close links with Executive Outcomes. After it shut down, most of the staff went on to form [[wikipedia:Aegis Defence Services|Aegis Defence Services]]. Check Sandline's (still exisiting) [https://web.archive.org/web/20121124033341/http://www.sandline.com/site/index.html website] and check their company profile which reveals some interesting tidbits such as that Sandline will work for. Their involvement in the situation in Sierra Leone, including the coup against Kabbah, was a source of embarrassment to former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 1998.
** [[wikipedia:Blackwater Worldwide|Academi]], formerly Xe Services LLC, Blackwater Worldwide, and Blackwater USA. Should be noted that it's their actions, command structure, and actions of their chairman and CEO, Erik Prince (a former Navy SEAL), that separates themselves from more mundane contractors. That, and the [[wikipedia:Blackwater Worldwide businesses|mind-boggling extent]] of both the access to equipment and the variety of businesses that they have. Ironically, though they were perhaps most notorious for their security work (and allegedly fighting alongside coalition military forces in Iraq in the 2004 Battle of Najaf), their chairman/CEO would eventually announce a scaling back of that work (due to the criticisms) in favor of the other services. Blackwater's also interesting in that they're one of the few mercenary companies to have been deployed in America. After Hurricane Katrina, they actually arrived ahead of the National Guard.
* Mercenary armies were used during the [[wikipedia:Congo Crisis|Congo Crisis]] and [[wikipedia:Biafra War|Biafra War]], with several mercenaries rising to fame such as Bob Denard, 'Mad Mike' Hoare and Rolf Steiner.
* After [[World War I]], lots of discharged and out-of-work German soldiers formed
** It is important to note that the Nazi party were not the only ones to hire the ''Freikorps,'' and one of the more notable examples of an opposing political movement which took on ''Freikorps'' personnel was the ''Stahlhelm'' ("Steel Helmets").
*** The Freikorps don't fit this trope particularly well. They were more like an extremely, EXTREMELY dark take on [[Eagle Squadron]], and most of the units involved were held together by ideology rather than money.
Line 306:
* This is exactly what the [[wikipedia:Flying Tigers|Flying Tigers]] were, the only true mercenaries of [[World War II]].
** The only true old-school mercenary band perhaps. There were almost certainly individual soldiers fighting in foreign armies under the [[War for Fun and Profit|traditional terms]]. Furthermore it was still known in faraway places to hire locals as ad-hoc security, notably the Mongol cavalry that guarded US weather stations in the area.
** Though in various important ways, this mercenary company was [[Backed by the Pentagon|Backed By The Government]], including most of its members being serving US servicemembers who were permitted to separate from the US military without suffering any of the usual penalties of leaving the military before your term is up. The means by which they were able to procure a sizable number of for-the-time modern warplanes is noteworthy.
** Foreign Legionaires and Gurkhas and so on served in [[World War II]] but they were under permanent contract and an organic component of a regular military force.
** [[George Macdonald Fraser]], in ''Quartered Safe Out Here'', tells of a British officer who recruited local tribesmen to harass the Japanese. Similar types were generally known in the partisan war and espionage game as they always have been.
* In ancient times, mercenaries were actually more common then nationally affiliated professional soldiers. Even most standing armies of the day (few in number, but with some
**In the age of phalanx warfare it could be a nice wager whether militia or mercs were better. Militia were defending their home city and phalanxes were made to optimize morale rather then skill. On the other hand mercs had some dirty tricks at their disposal that militiamen would not have learned yet and did not have to go home for harvest.
* Modern standing armies were originally collections of mercenary units under permanent contract to a given ruler (not always mercenaries strictly speaking; most were [[My Master, Right or Wrong|lawful subjects]] of said ruler but they served under the same terms). They were usually raised privately by a local noble often from his neighbors (a [[Proud Warrior Race]] like Highland Scots had advantages in this regard; a clan just became a regiment and a chief became a colonel). The British
* For several hundred years, Swiss mercenaries were considered to be the finest soldiers in Europe. They even wore garish outfits so that everyone on the battlefield would know who they were. This is why the Vatican has the Swiss Guard, and why they wear such funny uniforms.
* Another famous Renaissance-era group of mercenaries were the German Landsknechts, who were modeled after and considered the primary rivals of Swiss mercenaries and arguably the best mercenary group in Europe. While the Swiss used hand-to-hand combat almost exclusively, the Landsknechts used a combination of blades, early firearms and artillery. They were also famous for the ''zweihander'', [[BFS|a sword that could be as long as six feet]] designed for lopping the tips off of long pikes.
* The "Hessians" of the American War of Independence were, in fact, units of the standing armies of neutral German states which were ''rented from their rulers,'' by the British government, for the duration of the war. This was done to supplement the British Army, which was unusually small for a nation of its size (by design, in order to accommodate the manpower needs of the oversized Royal Navy). They made up approximately one-third of the British forces in America. The majority, though not all, of these units came from Hesse, hence the name, while others came from other states in western Germany.
* Later on in American history, [[Pinkerton Detective]]s became virtually ''synonymous'' to this trope, in addition to the various private police forces employed by corporations in the late 19th-early 20th Centuries. In the case of the Pinkertons in particular, such was their reputation and power during the time (often not being above getting their hands dirty) that even the US Government turned to their services, at least until the signing of the Anti-Pinkerton Act in 1893.
* In the 17th-19th centuries, many countries would downsize their militaries during peacetime, but keep the excess officers on "half pay": these officers were paid half of their normal wage as a retainer, but released from any duties and permitted to pursue a private profession. However, as most countries at this time were monarchies, and it was considered that they were members of the royal military, not that of a nation-state in a modern sense... it was considered acceptable for these officers to serve ''in the military of another country'' if a war should be in progress in which their own country was neutral. This would be similar to the "Hessian" situation, except that these officers were directly employed by the foreign country on an individual basis, without the involvement of their home country. The most famous examples are of German, Polish, and French officers who served with the Continental Army during the American War of Independence (such as the Marquis de la Fayette); there were also American officers who did this during the Napoleonic Wars and various European and American officers who did this in the post-1815 period in various wars of independence in Latin America.
* Early in World War I, many American civilian pilots joined the British and French air forces individually, while the United States remained neutral. They were generally organized into segregated units under British or French officers; in Britain, these were known as "Eagle Squadrons", and in the French case, the "Escadrille Lafayette" (Lafayette Squadron; the subject of the film ''Flyboys'').
* It was common in early American and Canadian history for a business establishment to have what amounted to a private army. Usually it meant some combination of the militia of the nearest company town or the crew of a ship, [[Cattle Drive]], or trade caravan, plus a few gunslingers here or there, plus some perks that only capital and industrialization could afford like fieldpieces or fortification (it is no accident that trading posts were once called fort this or fort that even though they were not army bases at all). In other words they were stronger then what any neighboring native chief could field but not overwhelmingly so. Usually they were comparable to modern security guards though the frontier being the frontier, it was known to use such things to corrupt political procedure, wage private feuds, etc.
**More dramatically in India the East India Company had an army that was indistinguishable from a European one.
* It is common when war erupts in an area for the natives to sign on with one side or another as mercs. Sometimes it is for a particular reason (say the other side beats up on their kids more) but often it is just for a job. This is especially known in wilderness country where backcountry folk can bring the skills from the [[Feuding Families|normal conflicts]] on their home turf as a recommendation to the recruiter.
{{reflist}}
Line 319 ⟶ 327:
[[Category:Hired Guns]]
[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
[[Category:
| |||