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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.''|'''[[William Shakespeare]]''', ''2 [[Henry IV]]'' 3.1.31.}}
[[The Leader|Authority]] means a lot of things. Sure, when everything's going well, everyone has to listen to what you're saying, you don't need to do the ''stupid'' parts of whatever your group is doing, you're probably less poor than your underlings and you get to look fine in your boss garb.
But when things don't go quite as
[[The Leader|High-ranking characters]] can be full of [[Angst]]. They feel lonely, because strict protocol has to be
This can be the consequence of [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. If they crack under the stress and are usurped as leader, they'll frequently cry "I'm [[Still the Leader]]!" [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]] and some [[The Wise Prince|Wise Princes]] are royals who suffer a lot from this [[Trope]]. Sometimes the reason for [[Prince and Pauper]], if the ruler decides to escape and leave a double to bear the burden.
Not to be confused with [[Firefly|the chain I beat you with till you understand who's in ruttin' command here]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Rossiu from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. {{spoiler|Simon actually has to save him from committing suicide.}}
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!|Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid]]''. Captain Testarossa has Sousuke Sagara pulled off guarding his [[Bodyguard Crush]] Kaname Chidori, as he's the only one who can pilot the Arbalest. When her normally respectful subordinate starts giving her attitude about this, Tessa's frustrations over her job, and Sousuke's devotion to Kaname [[Love Triangle|as opposed to her]], finally spill over.
{{quote|
* Queen Arika from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. Grew up sheltered but isolated, and maintained a marble demeanor with everyone she met. Near the end of the war twenty years ago, she had to make some ''very'' hard choices, resulting in {{spoiler|the world being saved but her own kingdom being destroyed, with the survivors scattered}}. The Megalomesembrian Senate {{spoiler|had her arrested, publicly blamed her for pretty much the whole war and sentenced her to death -- which she ''went along with'' because she figured it would help her people. Good thing the ''Ala Rubra'' had a [[Faking the Dead|clever]] [[Big Damn Heroes|plan]].}}
* Emperor Saihitei aka Hotohori of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' suffers from this ''a lot''.
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* Colonel Roy Mustang from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. {{spoiler|[[The Men First|He calls an ambulance for his subordinate when he himself is practically dying from his injuries]]}} and blames himself for absolutely ''everything'' that goes wrong.
* Sengoku from [[One Piece]] is a very tragic example. He obviously has to do things he doesn't like as befitting his position (Head of the Marines), and even ends up getting screwed by his own superiors when he's not having to handle pirates.
* In ''[[Vinland Saga]]'' this happens to {{spoiler|Canute}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[The Legion of Super Heroes]]'' (the recent rebooted continuity, that is) then-leader of the Legion Cosmic Boy, thinking he and Sun Boy are in private, decides to cut loose and rant about all the pressure he's under and how much the various idiosyncrasies of the other Legion members annoy him. To his horror, he discovers mere seconds later that [[Is This Thing Still On?|the communications channel had been open the whole time]] and his entire screed was heard by every other member of the Legion. This ultimately leads to a dangerous schism within the Legion, and they only just manage to pull themselves back together in time to defeat the [[Big Bad]].
** On another occasion, Cosmic Boy blows up at Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, telling them about the sacrifices he's made so they can be a happy couple and raise a family, forgoing relationships of his own so the responsibility of running the Legion doesn't weigh as heavily on them.
* This is the reason that [[Sandman|Morpheus]] grew tired of his role as Dream and {{spoiler|committed indirect suicide.}}
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* Primus of the [[Omega Men]] always felt this, often drifting dangerously close to [[Wangst]].
== [[Fan
* In ''[[
** Chapter 18 even has a discussion between Commander Karrde and the retired Colonel Nick Parker, who talks about how inhuman war has become, and how he keeps forgetting the faces of all those he's commanded and sent to their deaths.
** There's also Brother-Captain Alvarez and his decision to {{spoiler|[[Mercy Kill|execute his remaining wounded soldiers to prevent possible rape or torture at the hands of the GDI]],}} which continues to haunt him up to now.
* By the same author, ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote|
* The story of the sword of Damocles is an ancient anecdote, memorably told by Cicero about Dionysius II, who was the tyrant of Syracuse in the 4th century BC, and one of his courtiers, named Damocles. Damocles said that with all of his wealth and posessions, Dionysius must be the most fortunate man who ever lived. Dionysius offered him to try his fortune, and he accepted. Dionysius held a banquet where Damocles was treated like a king, and felt happy... until he looked up, and saw a heavy sword over his head held up by single horse-hair. Damocles didn't notice all the wealth and beauty around him anymore, and begged the tyrant to let him go, because he no longer wanted to be fortunate. [[Older Than Feudalism]].▼
== [[Film]] ==
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** General Allenby: I thought I was a hard man, sir.
** Prince Feisal: You are merely a general. I must be a king.
* ''[[The King's Speech]]'' shows what [[The Unfavourite|Albert]] [["Well Done, Son" Guy|went through]] [[Spartan Sibling|growing up]] [[The Woobie|in the royal family]] and later, being the king after his brother abdicates. Shortly after he is declared king, [[Tear Jerker|he breaks down]] because he has no idea how to handle the pressure.
{{quote|
* [[The Hero|Sheriff Woody]] from ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' is [[The Leader|a great leader]] when it comes right down to it, but gets frustrated a ''lot''. This [[Trope]] is very apparent in the third movie, in which [[The Hero|Woody]], being the most devoted of Andy's toys, keeps telling his friends that it's their responsibility to go home, regardless of whether or not Andy would ever play with them again. It reaches the point where [[The Hero|Woody]] {{spoiler|[[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|gives up trying to convince them and decides to go alone]].}}
* One of the center themes in [[
== [[Literature]] ==
* Kel from ''[[Tortall Universe|the Protector of the Small]]'' quartet fits this trope nearly to the point of [[Honor Before Reason|insanity]].
* Prince Josua from ''[[Memory,
* At the end of [[
* Jake from ''[[
* The instructors at Command School do this on purpose to Ender in ''[[Ender's Game]]''. They in fact deliberately engineer scenarios both inside and outside the simulator to teach Ender that he can never count on anybody but himself to help him.
* [[Discworld]]:
** That is one of the most defining characteristics of
** There's also Pteppic of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[
* Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]''. He's been emperor since the age of six. He hates every second of it and would give quite a lot to pass the job to someone else, but there isn't anyone else whose appointment wouldn't encourage civil war, and his sense of responsibility keeps him firmly in place. Pretty much a male [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]], in fact.
** Subverted by Gregor's ambitious (but not ''too'' ambitious) foster brother, who frequently complains about the inefficiency of democracy and declares that he much prefers a "clean chain of command."
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*** Thankfully, he enjoys the relatively [[Ho Yay|uninhibited companionship]] of his [[Heterosexual Life Partners|particular friend]] Dr. Maturin, who has an ambiguous position with regard to aforementioned regulations.
*** In ''The Mauritius Campaign'' it's noted that the officers in the RN refer to their uniform buttons as "The Curse of God", in acknowledgement of the decisions sometimes force upon them by their responsibility.
* The titular Colonel-Commissar of [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer
** Increasingly, so do the other senior officers among the Ghosts. This trope can be brutal when you have genuinely decent people in command of the [[Redshirt Army]] in a [[Crapsack World|setting like this]].
* [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]] sometimes falls under this trope, mostly when pilots under his command are dying. He does have to write the letters back to their families and takes a little comfort that [[It Never Gets Any Easier]].
** Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Bail Organa were the three most significant members of the Rebellion until Organa's death at [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Alderaan]]. After that, Iblis got uneasy about the way Mothma was directing things and left to make his own Rebellion. The events of ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'' let Iblis see things differently.
{{quote|
All the pieces of [Leia's] life these past few years fell suddenly into place. All the diplomatic missions Mon Mothma had insisted she go on, no matter what the personal cost in lost Jedi training and strained family life. All the trust she'd invested in Ackbar and a few others; all the responsibility that had been shifted onto fewer and fewer shoulders. Onto the shoulders of those few she could trust to do the job right. }}
** In ''Solo Command'', General Han Solo shows a bit of this while commanding the task force sent after Warlord Zsinj. There's mention that all he could do was issue orders and hope they were so good that not many of his people died. They were never so good that none of his people died. Never.
* In Gav Thorpe's [[Warhammer
* In William King's [[Warhammer
** In Lee Lightner's ''Sons of Fenris'', Berek, though [[In
** In ''Wolf's Honour'', Mikal feels heavily burdened by the role that fell on him when Berek was gravely wounded. He [[Converse
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''The Traitor's Hand'', [[Ciaphas Cain]] explains his friendship with the general this way: it gives the general a chance to socialize with someone outside the chain of command.
* Conan's feelings on being King of Aquilonia, from [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[The Phoenix
{{quote|
The people scattered gold-dust before my horse's feet;
But now I am a great king, the people hound my track
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back. }}
** In "[[
** In "[[
** In "[[
* [[Knight in Sour Armor|Councillor Arfarra]] in Yulia Latynina's ''Wizards and Ministers''. He was literally dragged out of his guilt-filled exile under extraordinary circumstances and then more or less had to take control of the empire because it was obviously going straight to hell.
* Heavy lies the crown for any poor sap born into the [[Dune|Atreides]] bloodline.
* Survivor's guilt and assorted associated emotions send [[
* King Glyn the First in the ''[[Deverry]]'' novel Darkspell.
* In ''Assassin of [[Gor]]'' Marlenus of Ar has to exile Tarl as punishment for his actions in the first book even after declaring Tarl a hero and friend. The decision is greeted with dismay even by Marlenus's adoring and loyal subjects, but as Ubar of Ar it is beneath his dignity to so much as explain his decision. (One of his trusted advisors has a quiet word with Tarl afterwards, acknowledging as he does that Marlenus would be angry with him for piping up.)
* In the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels the young elven princess Laurana suffers from this during her time as the [[
* [[Lensman|Kimball Kinnison]] does a thorough job of kicking himself in the rear after a wrong assumption about just what he was facing caused the deaths of several Patrol members.
* In the ''[[Halo]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] - Fred-104, Master Chief's second in command, suffers from a mild bout of this when he takes the rest of the [[Super Soldiers|SPARTAN-II]]s down to defend the planet [[Doomed Hometown|Reach]]. It doesn't help when four Spartans die in the initial drop - the most to die in a single mission in the unit's history.
* [[Prince Roger]], in ''Empire of Man'', becomes this once he realizes that the Marines guarding him are people who have their own problems. It's bad enough while he's on [[Death World|Marduk]] but things become infinitely worse once they get off-planet and discover the real situation back home. By that point, {{spoiler|there are so few of the Bronze Barbarians left that he's fanatic about keeping them safe and will do ''anything'' to reduce casualties on his side. His advisors are so concerned about this that they talk to his [[Bodyguard Crush]] to make sure that she'll serve as his "prosthetic conscience" to make sure that he doesn't just roll over the opposition with [[More Dakka]] when a less-violent alternative is feasible.}}
** Roger's fiancee has the same problem; As the advisors point out, both softly and loudly, her sacrifice is to marry Roger and live in a protected fishbowl for the rest of her
* March from [[The Sirantha Jax Series]] feels the weight of command so much that he's had more than one [[Heroic BSOD]] in his lifetime.
* In ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]'', why Selma can't leave his band.
* In Jerry Pournelle's ''[[
** Early in his career Falkenberg abandoned his wife to stay with his regiment.
* This becomes a (frequently) recurring motif in [[Tom Clancy]]'s Ryanverse novels once Jack Ryan ascends to the Presidency. In fact, [[Your Mileage May Vary|it might border]] on overdone by ''The Bear and The Dragon''.
* In The ''[[Dresden Files]]'' book ''Ghost Story'', Harry {{spoiler|Nearly has a break down when he realizes that the choices he made in the previous book (leading his friends into a battle against the entire red court to save his daughter) may have been wrong, and caused more harm than good. Killing Susan to destroy the red court may have gotten rid of many evil monsters, but the power void left over means that equally bad things are scrambling to take the Red Court's place. The result is a chaotic unsafe world, where even the normals are noticing something bad is going on}}. Harry sees his friends suffering and can feel nothing but guilt.
* King Robert Baratheon from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' either fits this trope or is a subversion, as he leaves most of the ruling to his Hand while he drinks and whores. Ned stark plays this trope completely straight though. He becomes said Hand just because the king commands him to do so, although he would rather stay home and govern his peaceful land instead of the whole realm.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium
* In the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' book ''Princeps' Fury'', Gaius Sextus gives a rather impassionate (for him) speech about the incredible amount of [[Dirty Business]] he's had to do over the years, not to mention the general stresses and downsides of his office, in order to keep his realm together and allow his people the luxury of not having to take his choices. He then goes on to add that if he ''really'' hated his main political opponent as an enemy, he'd hand him the crown himself and retire.
* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', the Clan leaders realize that they may have to make some difficult decisions. One character points out that Onestar especially was hit hard by this: he's had to break old friendships to prove that his Clan stands alone. Firestar himself realizes in ''The Darkest Hour'' how hard it is to be a leader, because he realizes there's a chance that his entire Clan may be killed in battle because of his choice.
* ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' occasionally mentioned a ludicrous system of Court ceremonies (it takes a small library in itself, and the "short" version is still dozens of tomes) set up by the first Gurigs (the last dynasty) for political reasons. As a result, the King gets almost no freedom to do whatever he wants, or even free time, even despite having [[Body Double]]s and other tricks allowing to not participate in everything. It used to be so bad that merely having some light snacks on an unofficial audience "to not feel like I'm the least hospitable host in the World" was enough of a victory to impress the Chief of Secret Investigation.
** In the second sequel series lots of people began to visit Echo in dreams - thanks to the Heart of the World, quite visibly for normal people and some got "stuck" with risk of dying in the sleep wherever their real bodies were left. A few just had to dream up that they are rightful monarchs in this beautiful palace. Gurig VIII is clever, so when this happened the second time, he convinced the courtiers to play along and "resigned" on a morning when there was no important activity he could not move, thus leaving a naive unprepared guy to observe the routine Court formalities. The poor soul [[Catapult Nightmare|opted out by waking up with a scream]] before an "easy" Royal day was over - and, of course, some courtiers felt quite awkward after this... [[All According to Plan]]!
== [[Live
* [[Space: Above and Beyond]]: this trope was used several times by the main characters.
* [[Star Command]]: Shane Ridnaur explains this to a cadet. The commanding officer is [[Lonely
* [
* ''[[Wings (TV series)|Wings]]'': after Joe leaves Nantucket in 'Joe Blows' due to being overworked, Brian discovers how difficult it is to operate a business. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XimRwOSEfcc\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrOmco1loeU\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TxTr_plc-k\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db5tpC0VD34\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74KVIP_zJwU\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBHyNcmHjLg\]
* President David Palmer of ''[[
** President Allison Taylor moreso.
* While we're on Presidents, it'd be shameful to omit [[The West Wing|President Bartlet]], particularly in Season Seven's "Duck and Cover," where {{spoiler|he orders two civilian engineers to their deaths in order to avert irradiating Southern California}}.
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* Jack from ''[[Lost]]'' is a very reluctant [[The Leader|leader]].
* [[The Sopranos|Tony Soprano]] seems unable to decide which he feels more strongly: the stress or the benefits of being mob boss.
* Though most of the time ''[[Firefly]]'s'' Malcolm Reynolds doesn't show the stress that his job as Captain of the good ship ''Serenity'' would foist on him, there are a few occasional moments where he does show that weight of responsibility, particularly in [[Serenity
** Simon sometimes seems to feel guilty for not being a "good enough" (My word!) big brother, not least for having twinges of regret in River's presence. It must be awful having a little sister who can read minds.
* Long story short, pretty much every captain from ''[[Star Trek]]'' feels this at some point. This includes all the spin-offs, and even one shot captains often wind up feeling the burden of command before their spot is over.
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* General George Hammond of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has it tough as head of Stargate Command. He has to juggle the conflicting issues of his SG teams and their safety, the Air Force, the President, other politicians, and of course, the safety of the Galaxy as a whole. The point is driven home when Jack O'Neill is promoted and takes over for Hammond and almost quits because "he can't fill Hammond's shoes".
** Same thing with Dr. Weir, Colonel Carter, and Mr. Woolsey during their respective times as the leader of Atlantis. While the IOA likes to interfere and chew them out for not following protocol, they always refuse to make decisions, instead leaving the leader to make the tough calls and then deal with being chewed out for making said tough decisions (vicious cycle, no?)
** Later in ''[[
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] often felt this way about her calling as the Slayer making her feel different. It bordered on what could be considered supreme egotism sometimes and when faced with one very tough decision {{spoiler|about whether to kill Anya for restarting her vengeance demon ways}} she claimed that the Scooby Gang was not a democracy, that she's the slayer and eventually all the tough decisions come down to her. I believe the line "I am the law" was even uttered.
** The Scoobies finally revolt late in season 7 when they disagreed with one of Buffy's conclusions. She was right, but her attitude about it certainly worsened matters.
*** Faith later confesses to Buffy that while she was in charge, she felt it too.
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'': William Adama.
** In the miniseries, at one point the Galactica is hit by a nuke. The damaged section's fires are endangering the ship and the automatic fire suppressors are out. Nearly a hundred of Tyrol's people are fighting the fires with handheld gear... when Tigh orders the section to be sealed off and the atmosphere to be vented, putting out the fires and [[Thrown Out the Airlock|killing everyone inside]]. Understandably, Tyrol tries to protest but not only Tigh is his superior officer, they don't really have a choice because [[Sadistic Choice|if they wait until everyone gets out, the fire will reach the fuel lines and blow the whole ship to smithereens]]. Afterwards, Tyrol tries to appeal to Adama and almost breaks down in tears right then and there, had it not for Adama's [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]] [[Death Glare]].
{{quote|
* In one of the more humanizing moments for Dr. Kelso in ''[[Scrubs]]'', he puts Dr. Cox in charge of trying to figure out how to balance the budget without firing someone. Much to Cox's chagrin, he can't, and Kelso points out that he doesn't (always) make his decisions because he's a [[Jerkass]]; sometimes, it's the only way to keep Sacred Heart running.
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'''s Adelle Dewitt feels this trope pretty hard, though most characters are unaware of how much it weighs on her, thanks to her [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|Queenly Mask]].
* Londo Mollari of ''[[
** Ivanava also had several stories focused on this when she's put in charge. Usually these are B stories that play up her [[Straight Man]] character against the ridiculous demands. Often results in Crowning Moments of Funny.
** Delenn is so much [[The McCoy]] that it is impossible for her to have the job of being a stateswoman without suffering considerably from this. The unusual nature of the circumstances demanded [[Jeanne D
* Not that modern monarchs do much actual "commanding," but the young King Richard in ''[[
== [[Music]] ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200327114158/http://webspace.webring.com/people/ar/ravenfield/lyrics/5/pricecommand.html "The Price of Command"] by [[Mercedes Lackey]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htyHYKtkV8A\], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey#Vows_and_Honor\], [https://web.archive.org/web/20180219023403/http://www.mercedeslackey.com/music.html
{{quote|
''That you watch your dearest die,
''Sending women and men
''To fight again,
''And you never tell them why }}
* [[Coldplay]] "Viva la Vida": "Who would ever want to be king?"
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
▲* The story of the sword of Damocles is an ancient anecdote, memorably told by Cicero about Dionysius II, who was the tyrant of Syracuse in the 4th century BC, and one of his courtiers, named Damocles. Damocles said that with all of his wealth and posessions, Dionysius must be the most fortunate man who ever lived. Dionysius offered him to try his fortune, and he accepted. Dionysius held a banquet where Damocles was treated like a king, and felt happy... until he looked up, and saw a heavy sword over his head held up by single horse-hair. Damocles didn't notice all the wealth and beauty around him anymore, and begged the tyrant to let him go, because he no longer wanted to be fortunate. [[Older Than Feudalism]].
== [[Theater]] ==
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** This is arguably the driving theme of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. Garrus and Shepard have a conversation at one point talking about the "ruthless calculus" of deciding who lives and who dies, and party members will express concern about [[Hurting Hero|Shepard]] throughout the course of the game as the weight of the decisions s/he has to make in the war against the Reapers take their emotional toll. Towards the end of the game, when {{spoiler|Shepard fails on Thessia and the Asari homeworld is completely lost}}, [[Heroic BSOD|s/he very visibly cracks under the strain,]] [[Trauma Conga Line|and it just gets worse from there.]]
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' has the royal Figaro brothers, princes both. When their father died neither wanted to take the throne, and the succession was settled by a coin toss. Edgar threw the coin. Sabin got his freedom. {{spoiler|The coin was double-headed.}}
* Micaiah and Prince Pelleas go through Part III of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'' losing a war and being [[Well
* The reasoning behind {{spoiler|the King's plan, and Strong Bad becoming a literal [[The Chessmaster|Chessmaster]]}} in ''Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Episode Two: Strongbadia the Free''.
* Mitsuru Kirijo of ''[[Persona 3]]'' feels these all too keenly, though some of it is self-imposed. She is the club leader of SEES, the sole force capable of fighting Shadows, and is thus directly in charge of the battle against them as well as responsible for the welfare of the team. But more than that, she is mercilessly driven by the guilt she feels as heiress of the Kirijo Group, who were responsible for their creation in the first place. {{spoiler|Or so it seems. After her father's death, she breaks down entirely, because it was his guilt she worked so hard and sacrificed so much of herself to erase. With him gone, she sees no point in anything. [[Harsher in Hindsight]] when you realize Takeharu, though clearly a caring parent, never knew the depth of her love and devotion to him; he merely chastised her for feeling guilty over something that wasn't her fault and trying to do too much on her own.}}
* The upcoming ''[[Dead State]]'' is all about this. Turns out that being the leader of a group of survivors during a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] isn't an easy job.
* ''[[
** Somewhat subverted in that the gameplay mechanisms allow the player to [[Take a Third Option]] in relatively painless fashion: just let the game run long enough for real estate income to compensate for the losses you'd take, and you get to keep ''all'' your promises to your allies without sacrificing a single life.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Baron Wulfenbach from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' finds ruling his empire tiring and doesn't want it, but he's the only thing preventing Europe from collapsing back into blood-soaked anarchy. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040114 Here] and [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040806 here].
** He also punishes someone who has displeased him by putting him in charge of a city. Admittedly, it includes the threat of being sent to [[Maximum Fun Chamber|Castle Heterodyne]] at his very first slip-up. {{spoiler|Later, we catch up with him in Castle Heterodyne.}}
** After Twiddle managed to assert his domination among the relatives, he holds only for a few days before feeling [[Surrounded by Idiots]] enough to [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130807 think again] about his old idea of opening "a designer pet shop in [[Truce Zone|Paris]]".
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'', Princess Voluptua takes her job very seriously, both as heir to the throne and as veicereign of Earth's solar system. Apparently, a lot of Nemesite royals and aristocrats are terrible jerks, whereas she's trying very hard to be a fair and just leader. She seems to be doing a good job, since even people who [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100525.html hate the Nemesites in general seem to respect her.]
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* Azula in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Being made {{spoiler|Fire Lord}} makes her snap HARD, and she wasn't the most stable individual in the first place.
** [[Subverted Trope]]: Azula snaps because, mere moments after Ozai makes her the new Firelord, he declares himself Phoenix King and ruler of the entire world - Azula's title becomes completely meaningless.
* [[
* Rodimus Prime in series 3 of ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]''.
** Rattrap was put in charge of the Maximals once ''[[
** And Optimus Prime feels it now and again.
* Leonardo from ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* Ahsoka has to learn this lesson when she loses her squadron of pilots in ''Storm over Ryloth'' on ''[[The Clone Wars]]''.
* Commander Walsh from ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
* Wildwing from ''[[The Mighty Ducks (
* Mufasa, in ''[[
* [[The Simpsons (animation)|Homer Simpson]], of all people, invoked this trope to cheer Bart up when he was bitter about losing the election for class president. Homer points out that Bart would have had to do a lot of extra work without getting paid, and he wouldn't even have been able to do anything cool because of it. When he realizes just what he would have had to put up with if he'd won the election, Bart actually feels a lot better.
* [[Rebel Prince]] Lion-O from ''[[
* Aqualad from ''[[Young Justice (
** Robin may also count too. In "Failsafe" after {{spoiler|Aqualad's (temporary) [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}, he had to take control and intentionally {{spoiler|sent Superboy on a suicide mission and the choice [[Break the Cutie|devastated him]].}} He admits to Black Canary that {{spoiler|he doesn't have it in him to pull off a [[Good Is Not Nice]] and he doesn't want to be the next Batman.}}
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* Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, suffered from this during [[World War I]], when he became so overwhelmed with the task of trying to run the Russian Empire during a time of war that it took a serious toll on his physical health. As noted by biographer Robert K. Massie in his seminal book ''Nicholas and Alexandra'', being deposed as the Russian Emperor actually had a fringe benefit, as it freed him from the stresses of running the country. Life in captivity wasn't exactly pleasant, and [[It Got Worse]] after the Bolsheviks seized power, but Nicholas' health did recover once he no longer had to put up with the headaches of running a country so huge it made up one-sixth of the world's landmass.
* Presidents of the U.S. tend to age rapidly in office. Political diarist Alan Clarke thought that public office aged you several years for every one calendar year, and he was not even in a very important post at the time.
** A President who aged ''before'' taking office was arguably [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Ike]], due to serving as [[World War II|Allied Commander of the European theater]]. The stress of leading allied forces against a well-trained military force drove Ike to drink and smoke constantly. And he took the duty seriously: A letter was found after D-Day that Eisenhower wrote in case the Normandy landings failed where he asked [[
** In Russia, you could notice that in Yeltsin's interviews around a year after resignation he looked way better than five years prior, after the election for the second term (not even to mention a year before resignation). Removal of the strain made him look somewhat younger with time..▼
** When [[James Buchanan]] left office, after failing to prevent the Civil War and seeing the division of the Union, he told [[Abraham Lincoln]], "If you are as happy to be entering the presidency as I am to be leaving it, then you are a very happy man."
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* In his book ''Bastards and Boneheads'', Canadian historian Will Ferguson provides a list of quotes from the Canadian prime ministers that all pretty much say the same thing: Canada is an extremely difficult country to govern. Ferguson's book was written while Jean Chretien was in office, but one could argue that Paul Martin and Stephen Harper would add their quotes to the list if they were asked about it.
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