Sycophantic Servant: Difference between revisions
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Formerly [[Trope Namer|named after Renfield]] from ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'', the
An example of [[Happiness in Slavery]]; [[The Igor]] is a variation of this. If the [[Big Bad]] ''is'' a vampire and he's "[[Blessed with Suck|promised]]" the same fate to his loyal servant, may overlap with [[Vampire Vannabe]]. More generally, liable to [[Wannabe Diss]] both from those they (hope to) serve and their enemies. See also [[Dirty Coward]] (for reasons why someone would become this trope)
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In Part 3 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', Vanilla Ice, the
* The ''[[Blood Alone]]'' manga actually ''calls'' vampire blood slaves "Renfields."
* The Chevaliers in ''[[Blood
* {{spoiler|Osanai}} from ''[[Paprika]]''.
* Misa Amane and Teru Mikami of ''[[Death Note]]''.
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== Comic Books ==
* [[Marvel Universe]]:
*
** Magneto likes these kinds of bootlickers. He also had Peeper in the second Brotherhood/Mutant Force and Amphibius in the Savage Land Mutates.
** Also, Nightcrawler encountered an alternate self who served this purpose for Belasco.
** In an [[Earth X|alternate future]], it's determined Nightcrawler -becomes- Belasco. So, um.
*** And in that same alternate future, the Earth's poles shifted, somehow causing Toad and Magneto's powers to be switched. Toad took the opportunity to turn Mags into a slave for his enjoyment as payback for the mountains of abuse he'd suffered at his hand.
** Arcade had a [[Perky Female Minion]] named Miss Locke, who was this to a fault. Arcade eventually killed her and started using an android duplicate instead, claiming she was trying to get "too close" to him emotionally and physically. But then, this is hardly the only proof needed to confirm that [[Ax Crazy|Arcade is out of his gourd.]]
* Mephisto had one of these in his first appearance in ''[[Silver Surfer]]''. Ironically, Mephisto was himself forced to be this to Thanos during the ''[[Infinity Gauntlet]]'' saga.
* Psycho-Pirate is this to the Anti-Monitor in ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''.
* Ever since his first appearance in the 70s, [[Batman|Ras Al Ghul]] had a completely loyal hulking manservant named Ubu, who worshiped the ground he walked on. After a couple of apparent deaths the character was ''still'' around, so it was revealed that there's an entire Ubu ''clan'', and they all serve Ras.
== Film ==
* Probably the most famous portrayal of
* Knock in ''[[Nosferatu]]'' is a [[Captain Ersatz]] of him because they couldn't get the rights.
* ''[[Dracula's Daughter]]'' had Sandor as Renfield to the titular daughter.
* In the Disney film
** Mind you, neither did the Horned King, in any form viewers of the movie would recognize. He was Arawn's warlord, who commanded the Cauldron Born and others and was the field locus of scarybad during ''The Book of Three'' while Arawn was being all [[Orcus on His Throne]]. Did not talk much, if at all.
* Beni from ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy 1999]]''.
* The ''[[Blade]]'' films similarly gave vampires human minions/spies ("familiars"), branded with vampire tattoos and derisively termed 'suck-puppies' by the protagonist and his mentor.
* The only character to come out of ''[[Manos:
* Peter MacNichol has played two
* Gaston's sidekick, LeFou, in Disney's ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' film.
** Fife in ''[[Beauty and
** In fact, a lot of Disney villains tend to have a character like this.
*** Curiously, the Disney adaption of ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' is lacking Shere Khan's
* In the film ''[[30 Days of Night]]'' a detestable character takes care of a few chores in the opening that pave the way for a group of vampires later, believing that they'll make him a vampire in exchange. Naturally, they [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|kill him]] when they meet up with him later. This isn't the case in the graphic novel as the guy was seemingly in the process of becoming a vampire, and gets killed before the other vampires show up.
* In ''[[Let the Right One In]]'', Eli's 'guardian' seems to love her, despite her usually treating him callously. Depending on your interpretation, young Oskar may have taken over his role by the end of the movie.
** In the book on which the film was based, his motivation was a paedophile's lust for and fascination with an unchanging child; the author of the book, in the course of writing the screenplay, dropped this sub-plot as being one too many and far too
* [[Tom Waits]]'s character in ''[[Bram Stoker's
* Artie Johnson in the [[Dracula]] spoof ''[[Love at First Bite]]''.
* Ephialtes in ''[[300]]''.
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* Hugo the roadie from ''[[Suck]]'' helps Jen (and then, the rest of the band) get rid of the bodies, but keeps whining about getting no respect and doesn't seem to be too bright.
* Farley Claymore, played by [[Tim Curry]], in ''[[The Shadow (film)|The Shadow]]''.
== Literature ==
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* Similarly, vampires in the [[Anita Blake]] series call the humans who serve them, those who have been bitten a few times and are thus somewhat in thrall to the vampire, Renfields. When asked "What did you call them before Stoker's book came out?", the answer was simply "slaves."
* In [[Stephen King]]'s vampire novel '''[['Salem's Lot]]'', Mr. Straker serves in this role, but subverts it in that he is quite capable as the vampire's daytime operative.
* The vampires in Patricia Briggs's ''[[Mercy Thomas]]'' novels have "sheep" - people who are kept on hand as walking meals - whose
* Krishna of ''Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town'' is referred to as a Renfield in-story. Unusually for this trope, he begins with self-righteous intentions as a [[He Who Fights Monsters|wannabe monster-hunter]], but both his sadism and his toadyism are readily apparent early on, and he readily sides with an undead fiend who's blatantly the most evil character in the book.
* Damane in ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' are forced to become this after some hard core [[Mind Rape]] from the Seanchan. There's a scene in the first book where they appear when Nynaeve frees one out of pity, and the damane without missing a beat starts screaming, begging her slaver to put back on her leash. It's a little creepy.
* In Charlie Huston's ''Already Dead'' and its sequels, the vampires of New York classify humans who know about them based on characters from Stoker's novel. Renfields are willing servants, Van Helsings are enemies, Lucys are wannabees and Minas refrain from judging vampires solely by their nature.
* Wormtail in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series.
* In the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' universe, this is essentially what happens to anyone who gets
* In Whitley Strieber's ''[[Wolfen]]'', [[Our Werewolves Are Different|the non-magical (but highly intelligent) werewolves]] persuade outcasts from human society to lure other humans into reach. This in exchange for a share of the kill. [[Our Vampires Are Different|These cannibalistic familiars, came to be known through legends as vampires]].
* Sour Billy Tipton in ''[[Fevre Dream]]'' serves as a competent version to Damon Julian. He's been told that he'll be transformed into a vampire one day, which is impossible.
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* Sent up in fifth-season episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', "Buffy Vs. Dracula", in which Xander becomes Dracula's bug-eating [[Butt Monkey]].
** It took some brainwashing, though.
** Also in that season, the [[Big Bad]] Glory evidently had an entire species of
*** In a bit of a reversal, Dracula in the comics has become [[Stalker with a Crush|obsessed]] with Xander, to the [[Ho Yay|point where he feels dead without him]].
** And, of course, there's Andrew in season six.
* True to the original, the
* The
* The Weasel-like Tim Stamper from ''[[House of Cards (British series)]]'' is Francis Urquhart's
* Colonel Klink of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' does this to pretty much every officer that walks in the door, General Burkhalter especially. To a man, they find it annoying.
* In the fifth season, Meg of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is presented as one to Lucifer. Of course, he's {{spoiler|planning to kill her, along with every other demon in existence, once he's done with humanity}}.
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* Shaft to [[Dracula]] in the ''[[Castlevania]] Series''.
** Although he's [[The Dragon]], one might consider [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] to be this also.
* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'' features several, in the form of the ghouls. Knox Harrington (a reference to Knock of ''Nosferatu''), [[Ascended Fanboy|a hyperactive fanboy]] was recruited by the Nosferatu agent Betram Tung, mainly because he was [[We Need a Distraction|able to divert attention away from Betram's less palatable schemes]]. Vandal Cleaver is Therese Voerman's ghoul and works the desk at the local blood bank, selling to vampires; unusually for a
{{quote|"Just so you understand, my loyalties are all but written in blood, so my opinion of the guy is moot."}}
** The player character can get a
*** Only Heather is a good example of this trope. The rest are actually modest examples of this trope at best and better fit other side-kick roles; they are generally quite competent in their tasks, provided one doesn't ask too much from them. Heather, on the other hand, isn't that useful, though she adds some [[Fan Service]] and [[Fetish Fuel]] to a game already swimming in those tropes.
* Wheeler from ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]: Shadows of Almia'' is the short and stumpy [[Yes-Man]] to Altru Inc.'s president, Blake Hall. While the others in his circle often utilize high-power Pokemon, Wheeler always attacks with...[[Com Mons|Bidoof]].
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== Western Animation ==
* On the animated series ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]'', Mordred played the
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Smithers fulfills this role. In the [[Dracula]] Halloween episode, he was even dressed literally as Renfield (played by [[Tom Waits]]!) in Francis Ford Coppola's ''Dracula'' movie.
* ''[[The Batman vs. Dracula]]'' has the actual Dracula give the role to The Penguin, though he's actually hypnotized. As as side note, Vampire Joker takes Renfield's weird habits, like eating bugs.
** Somehow, [[Harley Quinn]] was not on here. Her obsession with [[The Joker]] is so bad, that in an episode wherein he was perfectly willing to leave her in the city while he nuked it, she was about to quit. In one line he gets her back. This is completely in character.
* Lugnut of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is a borderline case, though it's more fanaticism than slavishness: in some episodes he seems to practically worship Megatron... and in others, there's no "practically" about it. He's also more [[Badass]] than most
** Lugnut definitely fits here.
{{quote|I WILL NOT HIDE! I WILL STAND PROUDLY AND '''SHOUT MEGATRON'S NAME TO THE HEAVENS!'''}}
* In G1 ''[[Transformers]]'', Cyclonus is Galvatron's
** Ditto for Shockwave's relationship to Megatron, before [[The Movie]].
*** Of course this is somewhat in contrast to [[The Starscream|his role in the comics]].
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* Scratch and Grounder to Dr Robotnik in ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' (Coconuts is even more devoted to Robotnik, though the latter usually disregards him in favour of the other two).
** Snively ironically started off as one in early ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]'' and [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|its comic book adaption]], before evolving into a [[The Dog Bites Back|vengeful]] [[The Starscream|Starscream]]. The comics also had Crabmeat, who played this trope straight until Snively replaced him.
* In ''[[
* In another ''[[Transformers]]'' example, there's [[Battle Butler|Inferno]] from ''[[Beast Wars]]'', who could probably give Lugnut a run for his money in the obsession department. Perhaps a semi-subversion, as his competence level varies throughout the series (due to being an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Playing with Fire|pyromaniac]] who thinks he's an actual fire ant), but his loyalty never does (as he's also convinced that Megatron is the Queen of the colony).
** Inferno really doesn't have a choice in the matter though due to faulty programming.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Servant Tropes]]
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