All The Tropes

Reliable Traitor: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Reliable Traitor (view source)

Revision as of 13:06, 8 April 2014

123 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (categories and general cleanup)
m (Mass update links)
Line 22:
* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' has Inspector Finch. He criticizes Susan's dictatorial regime to his face. As Sutler's puts it, the fact that Finch is still alive proves how appreciated his work is.
* Mycroft Holmes invokes this with regards to Campion Bond in ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. When Mina asks if Bond will be punished for his deeds, Holmes replies in the negative, saying, "It is often useful to have employees whom you know to be treacherous."
* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Comic Bookcomics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Eggman has stated that he knows full well that [[The Starscream|Snivley]], Lien-Da, and several others are planning to overthrow him, but because of that they will work the hardest for him, because they want to inherit a strong empire. He actually goes through the trouble of saving Lien-Da simply because he was impressed by her attempt at his position.
* It was recently revealed that [[Loki (Comic Book)|Loki]] allowed himself to die at the end of "Siege" and be reborn as a child because he realized he had become a [[Reliable Traitor]]. As a god of trickery and chaos, he could not bear to be ''predictable''.
* The One Sith in ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]'' try very hard to avoid being Reliable Traitors. The self-serving nature of the Dark Side makes it very difficult.
Line 35:
== [[Literature]] ==
* Achilles to Agammemnon in ''[[Homer|The Iliad]]''.
* The heroic version is exemplified by Major Elim Rawne of ''[[Gaunts Ghosts|Gaunt's Ghosts]]''. Early in the series he doesn't disguise the fact that he hates Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and, when the time is right, fully intends to kill him. He even tells people this. Gaunt not only knows, he gave him the knife (to replace one Rawne lost) which everyone expects Rawne to use in the attempt. He eventually mellows out about the whole "Killing my commanding officer" thing.
* [[David Eddings]]' ''[[The Elenium|Elenium]]'' and ''Tamuli'' series, Krager is regularly [[Joker Immunity|kept around]] by both sides, the villains because he's a competent minion, the heroes because he coughs up information worth a lot more than his life fairly willingly. Ironically, at the end of the Tamuli series, he's dying of self-inflicted illness due to his heavy alcoholism.
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' [[Magnificent Bastard|Littlefinger]] has this trope wrapped around his, er... little finger. Not only is he purely out for himself, but he manages to convince other characters that this makes him reliable [[From a Certain Point of View]]... which never turns out well for them.
Line 69:
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the Barbarossa campaign of ''[[Age of Empires II (Video Game)|Age of Empires II]]'', Henry the Lion betrays Barbarossa, but is still forgiven, considered a valuable ally. Then he [[The Starscream|betrays you again]], and is banished.
* [[Disgaea Hour of Darkness (Video Game)/Characters|Etna]] from ''[[Disgaea]]'' makes it rather clear to [[Disgaea Hour of Darkness (Video Game)/Characters|Laharl]] that she'll kill him where he stands if he doesn't prove himself worthy. Laharl just sees this as ''even more'' of a reason to promote her to second-in-command. {{spoiler|She did take out a key enemy, after all, so she gets the job done.}}
* Archer in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]''. Lancer and Assassin also have shades of this trope, being motivated by being [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]] while being stuck with Masters who deny them battles, but neither of their masters appreciate them either.
* In ''[[Dawn of War]]'', [[Ax Crazy|Lord Bale]] expresses concern over joining forces with the Orks against the Blood Ravens due to their unpredictability, to which the [[The Chessmaster|Sorcerer Sindri]] replies "Orks are not unpredictable. On the contrary, you can rely upon them to turn against you." It doesn't matter either way, [[Xanatos Gambit|since the Alpha Legion's scheme was made to work no matter which side won and started fighting them directly]].
** ''Winter Assault'' features two very brief [[Enemy Mine|alliances]], which are brief because each side expects the other to betray them, and each side doesn't disappoint. However the fact that each of them betrayed the other side because they expected ''the other side'' to betray ''them'' might put this into [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]] territory.
** In ''Dawn of War II: Retribution'', Abaddon fully expects Eliphas to betray him at the first opportunity, but isn't concerned as for the moment Eliphas is completely under his power and must follow his commands. This incredibly short-sighted behavior might contribute to Abaddon also being [[Fan Nickname|known as]] [[General Failure|Failbaddon]].
* ''[[War CraftWarcraft]]'' has plenty of these. First case was [[Evil Sorcerer]] Gul'dan, who Orc Warchief Orgim Doomhammer kept around because he knew Gul'dan would be useful to the Horde, even though he didn't trust the warlock. Statements about Gul-dan say that he preferred having himself surrounded by untrustworthy, ambitious individuals like himself because he knew how they thought, and actually didn't like having individuals motivated by loyalty around him because he had no clue how they thought. Additionally, Ner'zhul, the Lich King, works for Kil'Jaeden despite quite clearly having ulterior motives--since Kil'Jaeden never trusted Ner'zhul, he had his [[Elite Mooks]], the Dreadlords, watch the Lich King.
* Some early editions of ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Videovideo Gamegame)|Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' on the SNES had an oddly literal example in Lu Bu. While undeniably the [[Badass|deadliest general in the game whose WAR rating was unparalleled]], he was almost impossible to use in that function because he could be counted on to turn on whoever he served if you provided him with a modest bribe. Even measures to ensure high loyalty wouldn't come to much--a little more gold and your best warrior was off to join the opposition. On the other hand, coming across Lu Bu was not as threatening as it might be in [[Dynasty Warriors|other games]], because any half-decent strategist could bribe the [[Dumb Muscle|clueless brute]] in return, bringing him over to your side for the turn. You could even mess with history by doing this to [[Fat Bastard|Dong Zhuo]] during the campaign to overcome him. It eventually leads to the bizarre situation where you have the greatest warrior in the land, and you're keeping him holed up in some corner of the kingdom training troops for the rest of your officers. While the early games didn't offer the greatest amount of characterization, this ''is'' Lu Bu we're talking about. [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|I think it's been demonstrated that he's not exactly the most loyal of people.]]
* In ''[[Arc the Lad Twilight of Thethe Spirits]]'', Darc (a deimos who believes firmly in [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]) spurns letting any deimos who is slavishly loyal to him serve him, since he sees it as a sign that they're weak and would turn on him as soon as a stronger overlord turned up. In contrast, he happily welcomes Delma back into his service after she stabs him in the back, leaves him for dead and tries to steal control of his clan from him, seeing it as an acceptable display of strength on her part.
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', being part of ''[[Star Wars]]'', not only inevitably features this amongst the Sith but even allows ''the player'' to implement it in the Sith Academy, playing Reliable Traitors against themselves as a distraction for their own treachery.
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'', the Tevinter magister Caladrius is openly contemptuous of his patron, {{spoiler|Teyrn Loghain}}, and immediately offers to betray him to the protagonist if he is allowed to live and still make a profit on his [[Evil Plan]].
Line 90:
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'', Megatron thinks of Tarantulas this way, who presents a facade of loyalty and fools Megatron about as often as Megatron sees through it.
** From what impressions we are generally given of Predacon 'culture', betrayal and treachery are expected, as they ensure that only the strongest and most capable remain in command. "I can tolerate your treachery, lieutenant, but [[You Have Failed Me|NOT YOUR INCOMPETENCE!]] Treachery requires no mistakes."
** The other spider, Blackarachnia, fits into this trope much more neatly, often voicing her dissatisfactions. Notably, her ambitious personality was purposely designed by Tarantulas, whose [[Mad Scientist]] expertise first converted her from a Maximal. Turns out she was pretty much like that anyway even without the cerebro shell, which makes you wonder what the point was.
Line 98:
** In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', Megatron admitted he kept Starscream around because [[It Amused Me|his repeated failures were entertaining]]. {{spoiler|When Airachnid let Starscream be captured, Megatron was furious because as second-in-command, Starscream had valuable knowledge.}}
*** Granted, ''Prime'' also demonstrates that Megs is probably well aware ''his entire crew'' except for Soundwave would off him if they thought they could get away with it. Starscream's just the only traitor with the guts to be proactive about it, which kept Megatron entertained until Starscream started becoming too predictable to be of any use to him.
* Wuya from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'', after falling victim to the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] and becoming a minion of Chase Young. She's so reliably untrustworthy it makes her MORE predictable, and he incorporates her inevitable betrayal into his plans.
* Iago in Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|The Return of Jafar]]'' [[Heel Face Turn|abandons Jafar and moves in with Aladdin and Jasmine]]. Then when Jafar [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|returns]], he [[Face Heel Turn|switches sides again]]. Guilt, however, prompts him to make a [[Heel Face Revolving Door|third turn]] towards the heroes, this time acting ''against'' his own best interests.
** Jafar actually lampshades Iago being a reliable traitor as a ''compliment'' since it fits into Jafar's plan of revenge against Aladdin, though Jafar's ownership of the [[Villain Ball]] and [[Contractual Genre Blindness]] does him in when he forgets/ignores the possibility of Iago taking one last turn on the ol' Heel/Face wheel.
** And at the end of the third movie, he [[Take a Third Option|takes a third option]] and flies off with Aladdin's father, the King of Thieves. "You're a nice guy, Kazim. But not ''too'' nice."
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/895510"