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{{trope}}
[[File:
'''Fortune''': Speaking of manipulation, it's time for me to steal Arsenal since I've been manipulating you from the start!
'''Raiden''': Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.
When a character previously positioned as a [[Big Bad]] is revealed in fact to be a [[Disc One Final Boss]],
▲{{quote|'''Solidus''': I'll leave you alive, Jack, because you're still manipulable!<br />
▲'''Fortune''': Speaking of manipulation, it's time for me to steal Arsenal since I've been manipulating you from the start!<br />
▲'''Solidus''': Actually, I tricked Ocelot into manipulating you into manipulating me!<br />
▲'''Ocelot''': Fools! I've been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!<br />
▲'''Magic Hand''': But actually, I've been manipulating you!<br />
▲'''Raiden''': Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.|''[http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailMetalGearSolid2-05 Thumbnail Threatre: Metal Gear Solid 2: Part 5]''}}
Unlike the good guys, who tend to form [[Ragtag Band of Misfits|Ragtag Bands of Misfits]] based on family and friendship, bad guys are big on chains of command. The Man has deeper problems, deeper motives and so much power that the heroes will have to go through another round of dungeon diving just to stand a chance. When he reveals his reasons for being evil, expect the theme of the plot to unfold quickly and dramatically.▼
▲When a character previously positioned as a [[Big Bad]] is revealed in fact to be a [[Disc One Final Boss]], [[The Man Behind the Man]] shows his (or her, or its) face.
▲The Man has deeper problems, deeper motives and so much power that the heroes will have to go through another round of dungeon diving just to stand a chance. When he reveals his reasons for being evil, expect the theme of the plot to unfold quickly and dramatically.
In many genres, the Man Behind the Man often has more sinister and apocalyptic goals than his predecessor. For example, while a puppet king or greedy corporation may want to take over the world, the real [[Big Bad]] may want to destroy the world, or even erase all of existence.
And beware, lest you uncover the [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|Giant Space Flea]] [[Outside Context Villain|behind the man]]. Sufficiently complex plots may involve [[Up to Eleven|The Man]] ''[[Up to Eleven|Behind]]''
Can be reversed as "[[Inverted Trope|The Man In Front Of The Man]]", in which case a person you thought was the [[Big Bad]]'s crony turns out to be the real [[Big Bad]]. See also [[Bastard Understudy]] and [[Dragon Ascendant]]. May be the one pulling the strings of the [[Puppet King]].
Contrast [[Puss in Boots]] and [[Decoy Leader]]. In some unsatisfying occasions, The Man Behind The Man may be [[The Man Behind the Curtain]]. If there is no first man to begin with, or the first man is very obviously ''not'' the [[Big Bad]], it's a [[Hidden Villain]]. If the mastermind turns out to be an innocuous character who was quickly overlooked, then it's a case of [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]. If the new [[Big Bad]] is revealed to be subordinate to an old one, then the plot has been [[Hijacked
Compare and contrast [[Bigger Bad]], where a villain more powerful than the [[Big Bad]] exists, but is either not personally involved in the plot or is not a "person" to begin with.
Actually rarely involves [[The Man]]. This trope tends to come into play with terrorist ([[Western Terrorists|Western]] or otherwise) [[African Terrorists|and]]/or African villains being implied to be supported by [[Red China]] or white characters (normally a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]). Only the white villains, however, will ever show up again.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==▼
▲== Anime ==
* ''[[Bleach]]'': All hints pointed to {{spoiler|Gin being the [[Big Bad]], but after Aizen is revealed to be alive, he [[Break the Cutie|impales his loving vice captain]] and walks away with Gin following him obediently. It's made even more shocking by the prior implication that they were enemies, and that the former had even killed the latter.}} Definitely a [[Wham! Episode]].
** [[Up to Eleven|It gets even deeper than that]]. Assuming what he's saying is actually true, {{spoiler|Aizen claims he's basically the man behind the entire series.}}
** What about [[Filler|the Shusuke Amagai arc]]? You spend the entire arc thinking that {{spoiler|Kumoi wants to kill Lurichiyo and control the Kasumioji clan}}, but then when you finally confront {{spoiler|Komoi, Amagai appears out of nowhere, kills him, kidnaps Lurichiyo, and then proceeds to let everyone know his plans to kill Yamamoto, and he used Kumoi and the entire Kasumioji clan to get his hands on a weapon that [[Power Nullifer|somehow disables all but his zanpaktou so he could kill Yamamoto with it]]}}. Of course, Ichigo proceeds to save the day.
* ''[[
* In the manga of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', at first it seems like {{spoiler|the homunculi are simply manipulating the country of Amestris because the Fuhrer, King Bradley, is the homunculus Wrath}}. Then we find out that {{spoiler|Bradley himself is simply the result of an experiment by Father, and that Father has been controlling the entire country behind the scenes since the very day it was established 400 years prior. Most of the military's upper command is fully aware of this fact}}.
** The first anime has a similar scenario, although it differs in key areas. {{spoiler|Dante is the mastermind of this conspiracy and controls the government through Bradley, her ultimate creation. Once the Philosopher Stone that Hohenheim left her began to diminish, she infiltrated the government in order to facilitate the creation of a new one. Unlike in the manga, only Bradley and Tucker seem to be aware of her existence.}}
* Near the end of ''[[Excel Saga (
* The ''Mazinger trilogy'' played much with this trope:
** ''[[
** In the anime, Archduke Gorgon was apparently a Dr. Hell's ally. In the last chapters we learnt he was a [[Dragon
** ''[[
** ''[[
* In the original manga version of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', the final villain, Chaos, reveals that all four previous [[Big Bad
** All four of whom were The Man Behind The Man in their respective seasons, as Chaos was for [[Disc One Final Boss]] Sailor Galaxia in the fifth.
** In the musical adaptations of the series, Chaos is downgraded to Galaxia's subordinate/jester, and not even a true dragon. {{spoiler|But he still turns out to be [[Inverted Trope|The Man in Front of the Woman]].}}
* ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' did this every season. In fact, {{spoiler|in both seasons, we had a [[Double Subversion]] of this trope. Season one had Gaito (Gakuto and Gackto in the manga), who was working for Sara, who did a [[Heel Face Turn]], leaving Gaito as a worse [[Big Bad]] than Sara was. Season two had Michel's sidekick Fuku appear to be above him but below "That Man", but in the end, That Man was also manipulated by Fuku.}}
* ''[[Digimon]]'': In the second season, we started off with the Digimon Emperor, who later did a [[Heel Face Turn]] and who it was revealed was the pawn of two other villains. They in turn were working for another, who was actually ''possessed'' by still another. It gets even weirder when you realize that some of the Fake Bosses' plans didn't jive well with those of the big man (Malo Myotismon). So, either Malo had one extremely bizarre [[Gambit Roulette]] going that he never bothered to explain, or the writers simply decided to fall back on [[Hijacked
* In ''[[Naruto Shippuden]]'' we were introduced to Tobi. After his "death", he revealed himself to be the true master of the Akatsuki organization, and {{spoiler|stated on and off again that he was Madara Uchiha, clan legend and co-founder of the Leaf Village. He was using Pain's organization to mask the movements of himself and his loyal follower. Then it turns out he's ''not'' Madara, and is just borrowing his plan.}}
** {{spoiler|Tobi also happens be the guy who mind-controlled the Fourth Mizukage, was behind the 9-Tailed Fox's attack on Konoha (and hence responsible for making Naruto both an orphan and a jinchuriki), and drove his own clan to extinction, with the two survivors as firmly under his thumb as he can manage.}} And because of the strange [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] dynamic, he may ''still'' have someone behind him in the form of {{spoiler|the actual Madara, revived by Kabuto}}.
* The ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' manga reveals at the end that {{spoiler|every villain Yusuke faces throughout the series is actually acting with the approval and, in some cases, the aid of King Enma, who wants to make himself look better by having major threats repeatedly stopped by Yusuke and allies (who, of course, work for him).}} The anime opted instead to end with another [[Tournament Arc]], which was glossed over in the manga.
** {{spoiler|King Enma only brainwashed and released some Class-D demons in order to increase the number of crimes solved in the human world and present the demon world as a threat to justify the maintenance of a barrier and the spirit world's taking territory in the Demon World. He was most likely not behind Hiei, Kurama and Gouki's theft of the sacred treasures, the Four Saint Beasts' plan, or Toguro or Sensui's falls into evil. While he might have been responsible for some of the demons getting free (Yusuke asks Kurama if any of the brainwashed demons- who were executed when they were recaptured- were ones he had caught and Kurama tells him it's best not to think about it), he's not responsible for what the major villains did}} The "Tournament Arc" actually was in the manga, but they only showed the fights in the anime, and left out much of the action in the "epilogue" arc, including {{spoiler|the barrier being removed, religious extremists taking over the Gates of Judgment, or Genkai passing away}} instead concluding the anime at episode 112, the episode after the last battle.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'':
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' has a series of these. The first true villains are the Dark Signers lead by Roman. The second season reveals that Roman was manipulated by Yliaster and the Three Nobles, who in turn work for Z-one. Furthermore, it is revealed Z-one was the commanding force for Paradox in the 10th anniversary movie.
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal]]'' went a little overboard with this. At first, one could assume the [[Big Bad]] was [[Villain with Good Publicity| Mr. Heartland]], but then it was revealed he worked for [[Mad Scientist| Dr. Faker]]. But then it was revealed that the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad| Seven Barian Emperors]] were behind Faker. Finally, the true [[Big Bad]] was revealed to be [[God of Evil| Don Thousand]], who was overseeing it all.
* ''[[Stellvia of the Universe]]'' does this very well with non-personified antagonists. The supernova (the [[Big Bad]] for the first half of the series) was caused by {{spoiler|the crack in space, which is the antagonist for the second half.}}
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' has Naraku, the puppeteer behind just about EVERY conflict in the show, past and present. At the end of the series, Naraku proves to have a man behind ''him'' as well - {{spoiler|the Jewel of Four Souls itself.}}
* Late in the ''Houshin Engi'' manga, it's revealed that {{spoiler|Dakki is working for Jyoka, one of the [[Precursors|First People]] who was sealed away for wanting to wipe out everything on Earth and make it into their old homeworld. Dakki agreed to help her in exchange for great power, but planned to take over Jyoka's body and use its power to rule the Earth.}}
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', who would've thought that {{spoiler|Ribbons Almarck was manipulating Alejandro Corner?}}
** Which was a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'' with {{spoiler|Paptimus Scirocco playing Jamitov and Bosque for fools.}}
** The Special Edition of ''00'' revealed that {{spoiler|Ribbons is literaly this to Alejandro}}.
* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', Rau Le Creuset is eventually revealed to be
* ''[[
** The Red Ribbon Army was destroyed in the first series. It was only the second series that revealed Dr. Gero was its creator, and he'd had plenty of time to build up something a lot worse than an army.
** Majin Buu had an odd version of this going for him. He was a childish weapon of destruction at first, but ''inside'' him was a psychotic weapon of destruction, and ''inside him'' was a ''[[Complete Monster]] Child of mass destruction''.
* ''[[
** Oh, {{spoiler|Nathan}} wasn't pulling strings, [[True Neutral|he was just along for the ride.]]
* In ''[[Darker
* In ''[[
* This is implied near the end of ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', after Akito's {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]], the 'man' in question actually being the Sohma family elders, who criticize Akito for not emotionally destroying the members of the Zodiac.}}.
* ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' has layer after layer of this. In the first season, [[Complete Monster|Reiji Takatori]] is the man behind criminal organizations like the Creeper gang and the Liott prostitution ring, and [[Ancient Conspiracy|Essett]] is behind Takatori. In the second season, Mayumi Tsujii is behind [[Enfante Terrible|Todou]] and [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council|S Class]], and Epitaph (and by extension Essett again) is behind Tsujii. Rampant [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] - particularly on the parts of [[The Psycho Rangers|Schwarz]], who start out as one of the groups that Reijia Takatori is behind and end up backstabbing their way right out of Essett altogether - muddies the exact order in both cases.
* While not actually villainous, it's pretty obvious that Austria's the true power behind the Holy Roman Empire in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]].'' Which is pretty much what happened in [[Real Life]], via [[The Clan|the Habsburgs]].
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* Dark in ''[[Asu no Yoichi]]'' is introduced as a self-aware puppet serving the current Torikago clan leader who is set up to be the apparent [[Big Bad]]. When the leader is swayed by Yoichi's kind words, Dark reveals her true nature: she is the one who has been keeping the Torikago clan's hatred towards the Karasuma clan alive for generations. Dark turns against her supposed master, stating that she has no right to forgive the Karasuma clan after her ancestors devoted their entire lives to hating them.
* In ''[[Pretty Cure All Stars]] DX 3'', similar to the ''Sailor Moon'' example above it's revealed that the creature known as Black Hole was the source of all evil the girls face. It's kind of hard to figure out, though, if he meant the villains from the TV series itself (which wouldn't make sense as ''[[Suite Pretty Cure]]'' was going on at the time) or the villains from the various movies up to that point (whom he resurrected for this).
== Comic Books ==
* The heroes in [[Warren Ellis]]'s ''[[Nextwave]]: Agents of H.A.T.E.'', spend most of the series battling or evading Dirk Anger of the evil Beyond Corporation. Once they beat him, they face the Beyond Corporation's CEO, Number None... who is revealed to be a robot controlled by [[The Man Behind the Curtain|a baby M.O.D.O.K.]], who claims to be the [[Diabolical Mastermind]] behind it all... before being [[You Have Failed Me...|shot dead]] by {{spoiler|Devil Dinosaur, the ''real'' lizard behind the man}}.
* [[Playing
* In ''[[Untold Tales of Spider Man]]'', the person backing the Headsman is eventually revealed to be {{spoiler|The Green Goblin.}}
* In [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''New [[X-Men]]'', {{spoiler|John Sublime}} is the Man Behind the U-Men, the Weapon Plus Project, Kid Omega, and Xorn. About the only major villain that ''can't'' be traced back to him is Cassandra Nova.
* Any [[Evil Plan]] in Marvel orchestrated by [[Moral Guardians|the Watchdogs]], the [[Disposable Superhero Maker|Power Brokers]], the [[Knight Templar|Scourge of the Underworld]], the [[Anti-Human Alliance|Resistants]], and for a while, [[Bomb Throwing Anarchist|U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.]], could ultimately be traced back to [[The Red Skull]], who secretly founded, funded and/or led those organizations.
* The Biggest Bad is this to General Hand in ''[http://fav.me/d4lv1qv Super Milestone Wars 2]''.▼
▲== Fanfiction ==
* ''[[Downfall (
▲* The Biggest Bad is this to General Hand in [http://fav.me/d4lv1qv Super Milestone Wars 2]
* [[Yoda Kenobi]], author of the epic ''[[Star Wars]]'' fanfic series ''[[Legacy of the Sith]]'' loves this one. The villain of the first story is set up as [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Vagaari]] leader Goresh Tenziesh, but he turns out to be controlled by [[Smug Snake|General Kol Renin]], one of the leaders of {{spoiler|the true Sith Empire}}. ''Then'' it's revealed that Renin is only {{spoiler|an apprentice Sith. The real mastermind is his Master, [[Magnificent Bastard|Darth Malig]]. Now it's being foreshadowed that even Malig isn't the complete answer to the puzzle, though it's unknown if there's another villain controlling him or not}}.▼
▲* ''[[Downfall (Fanfic)|Downfall]]'' has an interesting one- although it appears at first glance that {{spoiler|Unohana and her faction}} are the villains, subsequent perspectives given the readers have rendered that perspecive uncertain. At best, that is only half the answer, and it is implied that some other force may be manipulating events.
* In ''[[
▲* [[Yoda Kenobi]], author of the epic ''[[Star Wars]]'' fanfic series ''Legacy of the Sith'' loves this one. The villain of the first story is set up as [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Vagaari]] leader Goresh Tenziesh, but he turns out to be controlled by [[Smug Snake|General Kol Renin]], one of the leaders of {{spoiler|the true Sith Empire}}. ''Then'' it's revealed that Renin is only {{spoiler|an apprentice Sith. The real mastermind is his Master, [[Magnificent Bastard|Darth Malig]]. Now it's being foreshadowed that even Malig isn't the complete answer to the puzzle, though it's unknown if there's another villain controlling him or not}}.
* ''[[The Legend of Spyro:
▲* In [[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons (Fanfic)|Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]], a "council" of five Christians is apparently the group giving orders to [[Big Bad|Madara]], [[The Dragon|Taliana]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|the President of the Kibusi Corporation]], [[President Evil|the President of the United States]] and many others.
* During the first [[Story Arc]] of ''[[
▲* ''[[The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn (Fanfic)|The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn]]'' has it's first half with a [[Big Bad Ensemble]] consisting of [[Anti-Villain|Deadlock]], [[Physical God|Empress Tyrania]], and [[Gentleman Thief|Boss Kaze]], though Deadlock is [[The Heavy]] of the three. The second half reveals that {{spoiler|Deadlock's [[Dragon]] General Grendel had been manipulating all three of them as part of his plan to gain an [[Artifact of Doom]] he can use to obtain the power of the Naga Spirit Of War and take revenge on the dragons for their banishment of the Naga thousands of years ago. In a twist, the readers know he's [[The Man Behind the Man]] at the half way point but the characters don't until after Deadlock is defeated and he successfully performs the ritual, giving him access to a civilization destroying [[Eldritch Abomination]].}}
* In ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]'', pretty much every villainous act can be traced back to [[Big Bad|Dr. X]]. When [[Arch Enemy|Mojo Jojo]] tries going after the Girls himself, he is forcibly recruited into X's [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Darkstar Council]].▼
▲* During the first [[Story Arc]] of ''[[Jewel of Darkness (Fanfic)|Jewel of Darkness]]'', Slade is this to Midnight -- in [[Alternate Universe|this universe]], she's the first [[Big Bad]] that the Titans face, as she tries to prove that she's a worthy apprentice to Slade. However, the Titans don't know this, viewing her as an independent villain; they don't learn of Slade's existence until the climax of the arc, when he shows up to rescue the defeated Midnight from the Titans.
== Film ==
* Emperor Palpatine to Darth Vader in ''[[A New Hope]]'' and ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' making a cameo in the latter. Also to Count Dooku in the prequels ''[[Star Wars]]''. We know that Dooku isn't in charge. The characters don't. Galactic-scale defeat ensues.
** Some believed {{spoiler|Darth Sidious}} was a separate character until Episode III.
** In fact, pretty much 90% of all villainous plots in the franchise, including the non-canon [[Expanded Universe]] can be traced back to either Palpatine, or if taking place before ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', some other Sith Lord. Even in continuities where Palpatine is believed or confirmed to be dead (something that is ''never'' certain) his vile influence can still be felt.
* The 2003 ''[[Zatoichi]]'' remake takes this to a ridiculous level in revealing ''two'' men behind the man in the film's very last minutes.
* ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]'' had a rare case of the {{spoiler|''hat'' }} behind the man.
* In ''[[
* Megatron in ''[[Transformers:
* Mr White, from ''[[James Bond (
* Inverted in the fourth ''[[The Fast and
* ''[[Rush Hour|Rush Hour 2]]''. This trope is discussed by Carter and Lee. Carter's theory of investigation is "Follow the Rich White Man." His belief is that behind every major crime there's a rich white man waiting for his cut. {{spoiler|And he's right. In each movie the [[Big Bad]] or one his associates is the rich white guy.}}
* Professor Z's superior in ''[[Cars 2]]'' is {{spoiler|Sir Miles Axelrod, host of the World Grand Prix.}}
* Referenced in ''[[Things Change]]'', where Tony Mantegna passes off Don Ameche's character as powerful mobster who is "the man behind the man ''behind the man''," getting lots of casino comps and explaining why no one has ever heard of him at the same time. Ameche is actually a simple shoe-shiner who is about to take the rap for a real mob boss. This scene was parodied in ''[[Swingers]]'' when Vince Vaugn's character jokingly makes the exact same claim about Jon Favreau at a casino.
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Watership Down]]'', the antagonist rabbits from Efrafa corner the fierce fighting rabbit Thlayli, and are dismayed as he reveals that he is not the warren leader, but is defending the burrow at the orders of his chief - whom they expect to be an even larger and stronger rabbit. {{spoiler|They're wrong - Hazel is simply wiser than Thlayli.}}
* In ''[[The
** Not just the ruler of this galaxy but, it is implied, the entire known
* The definitive early science fiction series ''[[Lensmen]]'' by [[
* Glen Cook does this constantly in all his major works. Played straightest in ''Dread Empire'' where the titular empire, Shinsan, is controlled by its emperor who wins the succession struggle halfway through the series
* In Tolkien's story of the Fall of Numenor, Sauron allows himself to be captured by Ar-Pharazon, King of Numenor, and soon goes from being prisoner of the King to channeling his power through the King.
** Sauron's also heavily implied or outright stated to be the man behind Angmar, several barbarian invasions of Gondor, and at least one plague. He did a lot to weaken his enemies before revealing himself openly a few decades prior to ''[[The Lord of the Rings
* The Black Council in the [[Dresden Files]]. Screw over and manipulate heroes and villains alike.
* ''[[Kitty Norville]]'', in [[Once an Episode|every last book]]. Often played multiple ways. The rundown:
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** Book 5: By this point Kitty's getting [[Genre Savvy]], so when {{spoiler|Ben gets kidnapped, she suspects Balthasar. It turns out that Balthasar's show is a front for a cult led by his showgirl, who is the real vampire master of Las Vegas, however, in a [[Meta Twist]], they had nothing to do with Ben's disappearance- that was the two-bit criminal the police suspected all along.}}
** Book 6: The Band of Tiamat has to be behind the mysterious force stalking Kitty, right? Yes, but {{spoiler|both they and Dom are pawns of Roman, who is implied to also have been pulling Leo's strings back in book two. Bonus points for being [[Chekhov's Gunman]], having appeared previously as an unnamed bodyguard in Book 5}} (Though that last might be a [[Retcon]].)
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ruin]] wasn't controlling ''all'' of the other villains in ''[[Mistborn]]'', but he was (directly or indirectly) the cause of most of their actions, as well as being the driving force behind a good portion of history and {{spoiler|the entire prophecy of the Hero of Ages.}}
* In the ''[[Warhammer
* The [[Cyberpunk]] novel ''[[Neuromancer]]'' by [[William Gibson]], [[Deus Est Machina|Wintermute/Neuromancer]] is revealed to be this.
* Raymond E. Feist is in ''love'' with this one. Across the ''[[Riftwar Cycle]]'', the first real villains (the first book was more [[Grey and Grey Morality]]) were the dark elves, who then turned out to be manipulated by the [[Reptiles Are Aborrent|Pantathian]] [[Religion of Evil|priests]], who were in turn pawns for [[Abusive Precursors|the Valheru]]. Later installments revealed that the Valheru themselves were being influenced by [[God of Evil|Nalar]], and the most recent books are suggesting that someone or something else is manipulating ''him''. Among the side villains, [[Eldritch Abomination|the Dark God]] was manipulating the Dasati for centuries before taking its place as their ruler, and the demon legions currently trying to invade the mortal world are on the run from ''even worse demons'' back home.
* In the [[Backstory]] of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[
{{quote|
** In "[[
** [[Kull]] is surprised to be told this trope applies to Kaanuub.
* ''[[Harry Potter
* In Book 1 of ''[[The Kane Chronicles]]'', {{spoiler|Apophis was manipulating Set's forces the whole time.}}
* ''[[In Death]]'': This happens a few times. ''Immortal In Death'' reveals that Casto did the actual murdering. ''Betrayal In Death'' reveals that Naples hire Sylvester Yost in the first place. ''Divided In Death'' reveals that Sparrow, assistant director of Homeland Security Organization, put Blair Bissel up to murdering people.
* In Steven Gould's novel ''[[Jumper (
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm
== Live
* ''[[Lost]]'' has done this several times. In the second season, it looked like Tom was the leader of the Others, until the finale when we learned of {{spoiler|Benjamin Linus}}, who then revealed himself to be a pawn of {{spoiler|Jacob}}, who is then {{spoiler|murdered in the season 5 finale, and a currently unnamed antagonist has taken the stage}}. And in all this mess, we still have {{spoiler|Charles Whitmore}} to worry about.
** Slightly subverted in that {{spoiler|the Black Smoke, the aforementioned unnamed antagonist, was "seen" in the very first episode and has been popping up throughout the series, seemingly in various dead guises.}} Also {{spoiler|Jacob is not presented as an antagonist when he is finally revealed, and it is unclear just how much he has been ordering the Other's around (though he probably could have stopped a lot of their worst actions) and hence how responsible he is for them, particularly since he spends a lot of time travelling.}}
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Adam Monroe is the Man to the twelve founders of the Company.
* Used frequently over the course of ''[[The X-Files]]'', as each echelon of the conspiracy turned out to have a higher one it reported to.
* [[Joss Whedon]] really likes this Trope. Here we go:
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** ''[[Firefly]]'' never got around to revealing much, but based on what we know about the show's planned [[Myth Arc]], it appears that Blue Sun Corporation was meant to be behind most of The Alliance's evil tendencies.
** ''[[Dollhouse]]'' is a massive cascade of Man Behind The Man moments: [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Adelle DeWitt]] in front of Rossum as a whole, then a series of fake out reveals which ultimately give way to the [[Shocking Swerve|sudden knowledge]] that {{spoiler|Boyd}} is the real [[Big Bad]].
* In a season of ''[[
** In season 1, Dan and Rick (as well as Mandy and her assistant) were working for Ira Gaines, who himself was hired by the Drazens, {{spoiler|while the Drazen brothers were working to bust their thought-dead father out of prison}}.
** In season 2, Joe Wald was being manipulated by {{spoiler|Nina Myers}}, who was working with Syed Ali, who was sold the nuclear device by Peter Kingsley, who himself was working under orders of Trepkos and Max. {{spoiler|Max himself may have been the superior of the German woman talking to Nina at the end of season 1, making him the man behind the woman behind the woman.}}
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** In season 4, Navi Araz was working for Habib Marwan.
** In season 5, {{spoiler|Anton Beresch was working for Ivan Erwich, who was working for Vladimir Bierko, who was working with Christopher Henderson, who was working for President Charles Logan.}}
** In season 6, {{spoiler|Abu Fayed's superior, General Habib, appears in one episode, but he was already captured by the time we learn about him. Fayed was also the attempted pawn of Dmitri Gredenko, however Gredenko died and Fayed seemed to reclaim his spot as antagonist, but died in the very next episode. Latter a different conspiracy emerged when the Chinese entered the picture, led by Cheng Zi, and they are revealed to be in cahoots with Jack's long lost father Phillip. Phillip and his son Graem were also Logan's co-conspirators in the previous conspiracy, or at least until they were seemingly retconned, as Logan
** In season 7, {{spoiler|it's debatable whether Benjamin Juma's relations with Jonas Hodges count, as Hodges relationship is already stated in Redemption, and it can be interpreted as more of a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] than Hodges being Juma's superior. On a far grander and less
** In Season 8 {{spoiler|Farhad Hassan and Samir Mehran were the Men Behind the assassination attempt on President Hassan. Meanwhile, Mehran was secretly supported by Russian Minister Mikhail Novakovich, who in turn answered to Russian President Yuri Suvarov who seemed to have undergone a [[Face Heel Turn]]. They are later blackmailed into a new conspiracy, which involved both the US and Russian governments covering up the original conspiracy, signing the peace treaty, and attempting to kill Jack Bauer. The man behind it? None other than Former [[President Evil]] Charles Logan.}}
* In ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', although Agent Cooper encounters BOB in season 1 and Windom Earle in season 2, Windom Earle would be The Dragon, while BOB (who is never truly defeated) is the [[Big Bad]].
* Throughout Season One of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', Sydney pursues a character that the show actually refers to as "The Man." Sure enough, the person they thought was The Man turns out to be The Dragon.
{{quote|
'''Khasinau:''' You'll have to ask my boss.
'''Sydney:''' Your boss? I'm looking for The Man. Aren't you Alexander Khasinau?
'''Khasinau:''' Yes. Yes, but I am not The Man.
(''The Man walks in'')
'''Sydney:''' {{spoiler|Mom?}} }}
* In [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] in 1998, [[Vince McMahon]] underwent a [[Heel Face Turn]] after his son [[Shane McMahon]] took over his stable, [[The Corporation]], and merged it with [[The Undertaker]]'s pseudo-Satanic cult, The [[Ministry of Darkness]], to form The Corporate Ministry. While Shane and [[The Undertaker]] usurped control of Vince's company and kidnapped his daughter [[Stephanie McMahon]], Vince was forced to make peace with all the wrestlers he'd spent the past few years screwing over time and time again, and unite them against this new threat. Then, Undertaker started speaking of a "higher power" he
* For the first season and a half of [[White Collar]], it seemed that {{spoiler|Garrett Fowler}} was the man running things. Halfway through the second season, in ''Point Blank,'' {{spoiler|Fowler reveals he's being blackmailed by Neal's old boss, Vincent Adler.}}
* The final two episodes of the [[Doctor Who|Ninth Doctor]]'s run revealed that the Jagrafess supposedly masterminding Earth in "The Long Game" was actually a pawn of {{spoiler|the Daleks}}.
** Not to mention that the Jagrafess was the Man Behind the Man to the Editor in "The Long Game," making {{spoiler|the Daleks}} the Man Behind the Man Behind the Man.
** The earliest example of {{spoiler|the Daleks}} being the Man Behind the Man Behind the Man was in [[Doctor Who/Recap/S10
** And {{spoiler|Rassilon}} was the [[Man Behind the Man]] to the Master, having {{spoiler|used the time vortex to give him the continuous sound of drums in his head, effectively torturing him into insanity}}
* The Prime-Time Premiere of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' second season reveals that Lord Zedd was Rita's [[Big Boss]], by imprisoning her in another dumpster.
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** ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' also has Emperor Gruumm revealed to be serving something called Omni.
* Inverted in an episode of ''[[In Plain Sight]]'', where the mysterious contract killer "Lola" is a fabrication of her supposed underling, the real killer.
* In Series 3 of ''[[Enterprise]]'', the Xindi race's attack on Earth made them the arc villains - however, as the ship searched for them in their home space, it happened across mysterious giant spheres warping reality, and then their architects, the extradimensional [[Exactly What It Says
* While it was not exactly a secret, Weyoun served as this with Damar in the last two seasons of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. While Damar became the Leader of Cardassia after Dukat's capture, he served as nothing more than a puppet for Weyoun.
** Also from DS9 , Quark's mother Ishka becomes this for Grand Nagus Zek.
* ''[[Soap]]'': when Danny decides he wants to leave [[The Mafia]] he tells his boss, who tells him he has to talk to the big boss of the Mafia - Mr. Lefkowitz.
* ''[[Hawaii Five
* In ''[[Smallville]]'''s eighth season, [[Evil Cripple|Lex]] is
* In the ''[[Burn Notice]]'' episode ''Dead to Rights,'' it is revealed that Larry was working for {{spoiler|Anson}}
* Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are this to the judges on ''[[American Idol]]''.
▲== Religion & Mythology ==
* Some [[The Bible|Bible]] students believe that Isaiah 14:12 (particularly in the King James Version) and Ezekiel 28:12-19 is God talking to [[The Devil|The Man Behind The Kings]].
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Spirit of the Century]]'', it is heavily implied that {{spoiler|Doctor Methuselah}} should be used as such, at least as far as {{spoiler|Gorilla Khan}} is concerned.
* [[White Wolf]]'s ''[[Changeling: The
* ''[[Jovian Chronicles]]'' has the Venusian Bank doing this. {{spoiler|It's implied that the majority of the CEGA is in fact in their pocket, if they don't own it wholesale.}}
* One of the first adventure paths in role-playing, the G/D/Q series of 1st edition ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|AD&D]]'' modules, was essentially this trope played out repeatedly: hill giants working for frost giants, frost giants for fire giants, all giants for drow, drow for Lolth. By the time you kill their demon-goddess, you're either [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|crowing that you've bested the ''ultimate'' Man Behind The Man]], or [[Your Mileage May Vary|fed up and ready to play some one-shot adventures for a change]].
* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', if the players ever investigate a really large-scale conspiracy and are about to get to the bottom of it, Friend Gamemaster is encouraged to [[Retcon|introduce evidence]] that the culprits were being manipulated by someone else.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'', it seems that Xerxes is the cause of all the problems on the ship. {{spoiler|Then you run into The Many...}}
** Its spiritual successor, ''[[
*** ''[[
* Most of the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series follow the pattern of an initial antagonist (often a powerful and ambitious but relatively mundane Evil Empire or Corporation) which is rendered mostly irrelevant halfway through the game by the revelation of the main antagonist. Sometimes, as in the above two examples, the final battle reveals that this antagonist was also just a Dragon for the true [[Big Bad]], usually a quasi-divine "source of all evil" in that world.
** ''[[
*** To take the [[
*** Several times, the main antagonist was set up as described above, or has even been on the losing end of a [[Man Behind the Man]] moment, only to take the reins from his supposed master. ''[[
** In ''[[
** ''[[
** [[
* In ''[[Fatal Fury]]'', Kain R. Heinlein is the Man Behind The Man to Grant.
* ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origin'' does this ''twice''. After setting up Baelheit as the [[Big Bad]] for 95% at the game, a late game [[The Reveal|Reveal]]/AssPull reveals that he was in fact being manipulated by {{spoiler|your mentor, Verus, who had previously shown no hints of evilness. And after you crush him, it turns out that ''he'' was in fact being manipulated by Wiseman, the dictator you supposedly destroyed 1000 years in the past.}}
** In the previous game (and chronological successor), Geldoblame is set up as the [[Big Bad]] initially, {{spoiler|until Melodia reveals that she was just waiting for him to get all of the parts of Malpercio into one place.}}
* In ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'', {{spoiler|Medusa is revealed to have been a pawn of Hades the entire time.}}
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', early in the game, your party learns the [[Big Bad]] caused an apocalyptic destruction of the world. Eventually, they find someone casting a dark ritual which is summoning the [[Big Bad]]. So, your party fights and defeats the summoner {{spoiler|Magnus}}, believing him to be
* In the [[Rhythm Game]] ''Space Channel 5'', Ulala makes her way to the base of the Morolians, aliens who are using mind control rays to compel people to dance, only to discover that the Morolians themselves are being controlled by the real bad guy: {{spoiler|Mr. Blank, the head of Space Channel 5, who orchestrated the whole invasion as a ratings stunt}}.
* In ''[[Castlevania]]'', there are a few small hints dropped that [[The Grim Reaper|Death]], who generally acts as Dracula's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], may actually be this trope. There are also a few hints dropped that Death may obey a power beyond Dracula.
** The ''Sorrow'' games reveal that {{spoiler|Chaos, the [[Ultimate Evil]] behind Castlevania itself, is this trope. This is the power that Death truly serves, though he seems to prefer Dracula being its host, given his hostile reaction to would-be usurpers. In ''Aria of Sorrow'' Chaos tries to force Dracula's reincarnation Soma to accept its power and become Dracula 2.0.}}
* ''[[Galaxy Angel (
** Actually, the only true cases of this Trope are in {{spoiler|Project GA with [[Big Bad|Eonia]] and [[Enfant Terrible|Noah]]. Then in ''Galaxy Angel Moonlit Lovers'' with [[Avenging the Villain|Lezom Mer Zom]] and [[Evil Chancellor|Nephelia]].}} More like "The Woman Behind the Man" if you ask me.
* ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' enjoyed this quite a bit. In ''Phantasy Star 1'', {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Lassic is in fact a puppet of the demonic Dark Force, from whom he received all his power.}} In ''Phantasy Star 2'', {{spoiler|Mother Brain, a malfunctioning supercomputer, seems to be the [[Big Bad]], only to be revealed as corrupted by the Earthmen, who were in turn corrupted by, surprise surprise, Dark Force.}} ''Phantasy Star 3'' featured {{spoiler|King Rulakir was Dark Force's most recent host and that the demon had been instigating the generations long feud between the two principal families}}. ''Phantasy Star IV'' seemed to break this cycle, revealing Dark Force early on, only for the party to destroy it three separate times. However, Dark Force itself is revealed as {{spoiler|merely the most powerful fragments of the Profound Darkness that it had managed to slip through its seal once every thousand years, tasked with destroying the planets of the Algol system which formed the seal that kept the dark goddess imprisoned.}}
* In the Xbox remake of ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'', Ryu goes after Doku, who stole the Dark Dragon Blade, only to find the sword in the hands of Doku's master, the Vigoorian Emperor. And after getting the sword back, the Dark Disciple ({{spoiler|Murai}}) reveals that he instigated the theft in the first place. Admittedly, the Vigoorian Emperor doesn't actually report to the Dark Disciple, but it still counts somewhat.
** ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] III'' on the NES does this too: {{spoiler|Ryu finds out that Foster, the CIA agent from the first game, is creating super beings known as BIO-NOIDS and wants to kill him. Clancy, who was seemingly helping Ryu out, was actually using him to do his dirty work, and thus becomes the true enemy in the game, especially when Foster is killed for trying to chase Clancy into subspace.}}
** The original NES ''Ninja Gaiden II'' had Ashtar, the supposed [[Big Bad]]. Once Ryu kills Ashtar and fights his way through more ninjas and demons, the true [[Big Bad]] is revealed: Jaquio, the [[Big Bad]] from the previous game. Who then dies and does a [[One-Winged Angel]] into a demon, a [[Final Boss]] who [[Sequential Boss|takes on two major forms before being killed for good]].
* ''[[Metal Gear]]'' does this a lot in any incarnation, but ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' does it so often and so complexly that it's next to impossible to work out who the [[Big Bad]] actually is. This effect is entirely a deliberate decision on the part of the writers, too, as a sort of self-[[Deconstruction]] of the series' favourite plot device.
** This is brought to perhaps its ultimate height in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', in large part since the game is largely meant to wrap up remaining plot threads. {{spoiler|1=At first, it appears there are three sides - which is already complicated. Namely, there's Liquid's Outer Heaven Corp, which runs several dummy PMCs in an armed rebellion against the shadowy Patriots who control the world. Stuck in-between is Philanthropy, most notably Snake and Otacon, who aren't really fond of either group. However, since Liquid basically wants to take over the world for himself and not in the subtle kind of way that the Patriots do, the heroes decide to associate themselves with the Patriots goals - though without ever making contact because the Patriots are really, at this point, just a bunch of non-sapient [[Artificial Intelligence|AIs]]. Confused yet? It then turns out there's a ''fourth'' faction - the Paradise Lost Army, led by Big Mama, who's really EVA from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. She wants to stop Liquid, like the heroes, but is more openly opposed to the Patriots at the same time. After a whole bunch of shenanigans and crazy battles that get lots of people killed it turns out that, in fact, Liquid was himself allied with the Paradise Lost Army and that he wasn't really Liquid, but rather, Ocelot (supposedly Liquid had taken control of Ocelot's body but this turned out to be false). Together, Ocelot and Big Mama executed a crazed [[Batman Gambit]] to trick the Patriots into becoming desperate enough to try and destroy one of the supercomputers that composed them - but in doing so they let the heroes plant a worm that destroyed the entire network. This all turned out to be a rather complicated plot to destroy the Patriots and free Big Boss, who'd been trapped in a state of [[And I Must Scream]]}}.
* {{spoiler|Dhoulmagus}} is built up to be the [[Big Bad]] throughout the first half of ''[[
* Similarly, Baramos of ''[[
* Halfway through ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'', its revealed that the Al-Asad, the leader of the generic revolution in [[Qurac|the nameless Middle Eastern country]] has actually been funded and supported by a mad Russian Ultranationalist named Imram Zakaev, who has visions of nuclear detonations dancing in his head.
** Zakaev also shows up in "The Coup", handing Al-Asad a Desert Eagle which he uses to kill the president. At that point the player has no idea who he is and appears just as a creepy old one armed man in a trenchcoat. Because his appearance is so minor, most people don't notice him at all until they play the campaign again.
** It can also be argued that Zakeav {{spoiler|detonated the nuke}} instead of Al-Asad.
*** Actually, {{spoiler|in Modern Warfare 3, it's revealed Makarov was the one who detonated the nuke}}.
* ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' takes this to ridiculous extents: {{spoiler|Wario}} was being directed by {{spoiler|Bowser and Ganondorf}}, who also manipulate {{spoiler|the Ancient Minister}} (who also directs {{spoiler|the R.O.B. Squad}}, the forefront of {{spoiler|the Subspace Army}}, which is created by manipulating {{spoiler|Mr. Game & Watch}}), but in turn are being given orders by {{spoiler|Master Hand}}, who is being manipulated by {{spoiler|some weird energy being that resembles "Tron" called Tabuu}}. Holy bejeezus.
* One of the endings of ''[[Drakengard]]'' has this occur. Throughout the game, we've become accustomed to thinking the [[Big Bad]] was the [[Enfante Terrible|crazy high priestess of the Cult of the Watchers]]. When she's finally killed in the path to the fourth ending, [[Cosmic Horror|the "Watchers" themselves show up.]] While it is left ambiguous if these are the true villains of the game, the sequel removes all doubt.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Warhammer
* The ''[[
* ''[[Kirby]]'': There's almost always someone behind
* The first game in the ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' series has Miles Edgeworth, the smug, arrogant "genius prosecutor" who will "do anything to get a guilty verdict." Then in the fourth case of the game, you're up against the devilish-sounding and looking Manfred von Karma, {{spoiler|Edgeworth's stepfather and mentor.}} It doesn't help that von Karma, also a perfectionist, tries to get {{spoiler|his own stepson}} guilty for the sake of preserving his 40-year-long perfect record.
** Not only that, but {{spoiler|the identity of the murderer in that case is deduced by Phoenix in court, but it's not until he he finds a letter in said culprit's shack that he discovers that it was Von Karma who came up with the plan for the murder.}}
* The ''[[Advance Wars]]'' series enjoys this one. In ''Advance Wars'', Sturm was the Man behind Olaf and Clone Andy. In ''Dual Strike'', Von Bolt was the Man behind Kindle and the Bolt Guard. And in ''Days Of Ruin'', Caulder was the Man behind just about everybody.
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** ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' uses this throughout all its major lore, almost every villain in the game that isn't an Old God or Sargeras is being controlled by one of those two. Speculation about the madness of Sargeras could potentially reveal a connection between him and the Old Gods as well.
* ''Predator: [[Concrete Jungle]]'' starts off with you hunting street gangs before a coherent [[Big Bad]], Hunter Borgia, is set up. However, while hunting him, you eventually stumble on the real [[Big Bad]], the computer that controls Neonopolis, MOTHER{{spoiler|, who is not actually an AI but his dear old mumsy Isabella Borgia, who has been kept alive through a combination of technology and the blood you spilt on her and Hunter back in 1930. Then she releases [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|a wave of motherfucking xenomorphs on you.]]}}
* ''[[
* The final boss of ''[[Overlord]]'' is
* In ''[[
* The final boss (not counting the [[Bonus Dungeon]]) in ''[[
* Grodus, the main bad guy in ''[[Paper Mario:
** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Dimentio}} from the third game.
* ''[[Guild Wars]] Nightfall'' reveals that the banished god Abaddon was behind most of the events of the ''Prophecies'' and ''Factions'' campaigns.
* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' has two, with Death's Hand first appearing to be a bad guy acting on his own, and then {{spoiler|revealing he has been acting on the Emperor's orders all along and the Emperor was the one who set up the death of the Water Dragon and the upsetting of the balance in the first place}}, and then once you defeat ''him'' {{spoiler|your kindly old Master Li wanders in, reveals that this was all part of his [[Evil Plan]] to get vengeance on his brother, and kills you}}, and it turns out that ''he'' is the final boss after all that.
* In ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (
* In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series, with a small handful of exceptions, all villains lead back to Xehanort. In ''Birth By Sleep'' we find out {{spoiler|Master Xehanort is the past incarnation of Xehanort before he took over Terra's body}}, so ultimately ''every single thing'' wrong in the Kingdom Hearts universe is a direct or indirect result of Xehanort's actions. The only villain who doesn't seem to be under his control is Maleficent and her various allies, but they carry out their plans using Heartless. Guess who created the Heartless?
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' has The Men Behind The
* In the original ''[[Neo Quest]]'': on easy, the game ends after you defeat the Big Bad. On medium, you have to defeat the man behind the man after that. On hard you have to defeat not only the first two, but the man behind the man behind the man as well.
* {{spoiler|Izanami}} of ''[[Persona 4]]'' is revealed to be behind everything in the True Ending. The kicker? {{spoiler|She was disguised as [[Chekhov's Gunman|
** Oh, that's just the end of it. {{spoiler|You first find out that Nametame was the one kidnapping all the characters you've been trying to rescue, but then it turns out he was just being manipulated by Adachi, who was the one who committed the first two murders that started the game. But then after you beat him, he gets taken over by a giant disco eyeball named Ameno-sagiri who claims to have done all this to "grant mankind its true desires." But
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' uses this trope a ''lot''. {{spoiler|The War of the Lions is orchestrated by the Church to seize power over Ivalice; the Church is being manipulated from within from Folmarv; Folmarv, in turn, is being used as a host by the Lucavi.}} In addition, it's also inverted: {{spoiler|Dycedarg, Duke Larg's attendant, is ultimately responsible for much of what the Northern Sky does.}} However, as a big theme of the game is corruption and greed in the aristocracy, it doesn't come off as ridiculous.
** This sort of thing in general is a common theme in the works of game designer [[Yasumi Matsuno]].
* In ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', {{spoiler|N is supposedly the boss of Team Plasma. However, it is revealed at the end that Ghetsis was pulling the strings the whole time.}}
** In ''[[Pokémon]] Colosseum'', Nascour is built up to be the [[Big Bad]] of the game. However, the true [[Big Bad]] is really {{spoiler|Mayor Es Cade,}} or Evice, as he calls himself during [[The Reveal]]. This actually has a very
** [[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon|''
* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Sacred Stones'', Emperor Vigarde appears to be the [[Big Bad]] or the [[Evil Overlord]], {{spoiler|But he is in fact not even in control of his own actions, having died months prior to the first chapter of the game's events and was being animated by Lyon's magic. Lyon meanwhile, can either be overconfident that he is in control of the Demon King or is actually mercilessly possessed by the Demon King, depending on the story route chosen.}}
** ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral]]'' has
* In ''[[Magi Nation]]'', Korg and Zet appear to have something to do with the Shadow Geyzers, but in fact it is revealed that someone named Morag is their master. {{spoiler|But in fact, Agram is actually the teacher of Morag.}}
* In ''[[Tales of Eternia
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dungeon Siege
* In ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]! Path of the Furon'', there is a long, confusing, [[Gambit Roulette]] example. {{spoiler|The Master. Crypto believes his ememy is Curt Calvin, supposedly another Furon DNA gatherer. Then, after meeting the Master, Crypto believes his enemy is really Saxon, who supposedly used Calvin to try and destroy Crypto. It then turns out that Saxon was under the employ of Francodyne CEO Henri Crousteau. It is then revealed that Saxon and Crousteau were both part of Emperor Meningitis's operation to manufacture Synthetic DNA. Then after killing Meningitis, the Master appears and reveals that he was the actual conspirator all along, using all of them, including Crypto, in order to usurp the Furon throne.}}
* The 2009 sequel to ''[[
* ''[[The Conduit]]'' has one of these {{spoiler|revealed in a voiceover ''after'' the game ends.}}
* In the [[Sega Genesis]] game ''[[Shining Force]]'' almost every boss you fight, no matter how big of a bastard they were, turns out to have been innocent and only under the control of the real [[Big Bad]], Darksol. It's really kind of irritating to have worked so hard to defeat someone only to have them go "What have I done? Forgive me, I was only under the control of Darksol, I'm actually good." before they die. Yeah, and we're supposed to forgive you after you killed more than half of the Shining Force?
* Both ''[[
* In ''[[The Godfather (
** Roth in the second game.
** Michael can be seen as this, since while both Aldo and Dominic are the nominal Dons, they're taking their cues from him.
* In ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'', at first {{spoiler|Master Mattias}} was build up to be a villain along with Fatima. However, later in the game, {{spoiler|Bharva}} was revealed to be
* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' franchise does this a LOT. Take, for instance, ''[[
** The same game has a straighter example with {{spoiler|Shadow being
** {{spoiler|Subverted}} in ''[[
* ''[[
* {{spoiler|Hector}}, at first, seems to only be the [[Big Bad]] of the [[Dept. Heaven]] game [[Riviera:
* ''[[
** The Iron Throne in turn were the men behind Davaeorn, who was the man behind the Chill and Black Talon bandits, who were the men behind Mulahey and the kobolds in Nashkel. Oi.
** ''Throne of Bhaal'': The Five are clearly the enemies, leading their armies to destroy those who they think who stand in the way of their ascension. Only actually their leader is {{spoiler|the apparent philanthropist Melissan, who also gives [[Unwitting Pawn|you]] many of your quests as a good guy.}}
** For that matter, the entire ''Dark Alliance'' series {{spoiler|in its entirety was shaping up to be a long string of this.}} At the end of the first game, {{spoiler|a lizardman who gave you supplies to help you defeat the final boss Eldrith turns out to be [[The Mole|working for another gang of villains who wanted Eldrith out of their way.]]}} After the final battle of the second game, {{spoiler|we cut to what appears to be some Egyptian tomb, where [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|we see a heretofore unexplained sun god or whatever]] and his priest discussing the disappointing failure of the second game's gang of villains.}} Unfortunately, the company responsible for the titles went out of business after that, leaving the player with no way of finding out [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|just how far Interplay was willing to take these cliffhanger endings.]]
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Space Rangers]]'', the Klissan invaders you spend most of the game fighting turn out to have been {{spoiler|manipulated by the [[Space Pirate]] king Rachakhan in a [[Let's You and Him Fight]] scheme. The idea was to tie up the galactic military, leaving noone to protect the traders from Rachakhan's plundering.}} It's a [[Fridge Logic|pretty dumb evil scheme]], when you think about it, since if it had succeeded {{spoiler|the Klissan would overrun galactic civilization, leaving nothing for Rachakhan to plunder. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice Job Killing Five Spacefaring Civilizations, Villain]] }}
* ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'' first starts off with Dart's girlfriend being captured and
* "Craig" from ''[[Strong
* In [[Epic Mickey]], [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit|Oswald]] reveals that all of the Blotlings [[Mickey Mouse|Mickey]] fought, including the [[Living Shadow|Shadow Blot]], were all {{spoiler|drippings from the [[Eldritch Abomination|
* The final cutscene in ''[[Haegemonia Legions Of Iron]]'' reveals that the Darzok are the puppets of the [[Abusive Precursors]] who are responsible for the extinction of the Solon. Sadly, this [[Sequel Hook]] did not result in a second game.
* In ''[[Sam and Max
** Same in the first season, where the true villain is Hugh Bliss, who is actually a sentient colony of alien bacteria that feeds on happiness.
** And in the second season, the true villain appears to be [[The Devil]], but he is actually a pawn in the hands of the Soda Poppers, a trio of growth-stunted former child actors.
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' was '''the''' face of the [[
* Tatanga, the main villain of ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Embric of Wulfhammers Castle]]'', the Awesome Fellowship's [[Arch Enemy]] Lord Vecnathrax {{spoiler|is actually being manipulated by Loni, who is taking advantage of his senility to pit him against the Fellowship for the artistic value of the struggles.}}
* The end chapter of ''[[
* In ''[[Resident Evil]]'', [[Big Bad|Albert Wesker]] is revealed to have been
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' does this, more specifically in ''[[
** It goes even behind that. In ''[[Mortal Kombat
*** Doesn't stop there. {{spoiler|Shao Kahn and Onaga are both said to be manipulated by the One Being. The immortal omnipotent being that existed before the realms were created, that battled the Elder Gods before time. As he couldn't be defeated, the Elder Gods shattered his existence using a powerful weapon, and used it to create the realms before he could reform. The One Being is now essentially all reality, and his conscious exists within everyone. The only way for him to return is to merge the realms together, of which Shao Kahn and Onaga subconsciously try to do.}}
* In ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Awakening'' reveals that {{spoiler|the Architect, a sapient darkspawn trying to "free" his kind and give them free will, awakened Urthemiel, [[Big Bad]] of ''Origins'', and caused the Fifth Blight. Unusually, this was accidental; the Architect is trying to ''stop'' the Blights, and inadvertently tainted Urthemiel while trying to "free" him. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice job breaking it, antivillain.]]}}
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
**
*
* In ''[[Dark Souls]]'',
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'', one Imperial-aligned character mentions in passing that [[Big Bad|Mehrunes Dagon]], the [[Our Demons Are Different|Daedric Prince]] of Destruction and Change, was involved in Jagar Tharn's attempt to overthrow Emperor Uriel VII in ''[[The Elder Scrolls: Arena]]''.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Funny Farm]]'' does this at considerable length.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': Torg (the hero) himself becomes
** For a 'Mastermind', he's easily manipulated; his own sister manipulates him as well, and they both get burned.
** Schlock has usurped Prometheus as the Man behind Heretti. Since it's a corporation full of evil characters, there's quite a few figures he can get behind.
* ''[[
** We've now met the Evil Outsiders behind the Linear Guild - although in this case Sabine is the only one who knows about them.
** General Tarquin and his friend Malack are the men behind several of the easy-come-easy-go kingdoms on the Western Continent, leaving to conquer another kingdom whenever theirs gets overrun. In the case of the Empire of Blood, at least, they seem to be doing all the real ruling for the Empress, an unusually thick (in more ways than one) red dragon. Then it turns out it's even deeper than that: {{spoiler|Their four old adventuring buddies are similarly behind the thrones of two other empires, using manipulation and war politics to ensure their anonymous power no matter who's nominally in charge - and that figurehead, thanks to said war politics, changes regularly.}}
** It turns out that {{spoiler|Redcloak}} is this to {{spoiler|Xykon}}. He ''acts'' submissive and weak and serves the role as {{spoiler|Xykon}}'s toady while actually manipulating him to his own ends.
** The [[God of Evil|Dark One]] is this to [[High Priest|Redcloak]]
* Complicatedly used in ''[[
▲* In ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]'', pretty much every villainous act can be traced back to [[Big Bad|Dr. X]]. When [[Arch Enemy|Mojo Jojo]] tries going after the Girls himself, he is forcibly recruited into X's [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Darkstar Council]].
* ''[[
▲* Complicatedly used in ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]''. The Black Queen is the [[Big Bad]] at first, but her [[Dragon With an Agenda]], Jack Noir kills her and assumes the title. {{spoiler|Later it's revealed that Vriska manipulated events so that Jack rose to power. And even later, Doc Scratch reveals he manipulated her all as part of his own plan to bring his boss, Lord English, into the universe.}}
* ''[[
▲* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'': The [[Big Bad]] of the "New and Old Flames" arc turned out to be {{spoiler|the short, hairy, quiet comic book geek, Dex}}. But it turns out he was under some kind of [[Mind Control]]. The main cast know it must have been an immortal due to the circumstances, but only the reader and maybe a couple of other characters know it was {{spoiler|Pandora}}.
▲* ''[[Spacetrawler (Webcomic)|Spacetrawler]]'': The protagonists initially believe Kuu-Drahc, Apex Speaker of the Galactic Organizational Body, to be the [[Big Bad]]. As it turns out, he's just taking orders from Qwahntoo, the guy who enslaved the Eebs and founded the Galactic Organizational Body in the first place.
== Web Original ==
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* Don Sebastiano, the [[Big Bad]] who rules [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] in the [[Whateley Universe]], dropped hints for soem time that Hekate, his 'queen', scared even him. Now we know that ''she'' was really behind the horrific act that gave Don Sebastiano his power base. BUT we also know there's someone behind her. Someone we've never seen except in a concealing cloak...
** More recently there's been a story about a villain who became the Man Behind The Man by ''accident'' - basically bluffing a smallish gang and checking up on them later to discover they'd set up the international 'Master of the World Network', with thousands of pawns, all channelling money and information back to that one gang leader, who was more than happy to give it all to his 'Master'. Later on in the story this villain does a similar thing, except this time ''he actually does control it all''.
* Semi-invoked in ''[[Broken Saints]]'': The two [[Chessmaster
*
* Salem is only revealed to be the mastermind behind both Cinder ''and'' the Grimm in the final moments of Volume 3 of ''[[RWBY]]''
== Western Animation ==
* When former [[Big Bad]] Slade comes [[Back
* A non-villainous version in ''[[
* In the first season of ''[[X
* Sslither to Metlar in ''[[
== Real Life ==
* Charles Martel was the maior domus of the
* [[Rasputin|Grigori Rasputin]] was thought to be the man behind Tsar Nicholas II through Tsaritsa Alexandra.
* Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were often claimed to be the power behind George W. Bush. And going back a few years, [[Bald of Awesome|James]] [[Ragin Cajun|Carville]] was joked to be the power behind Bill Clinton.
* The king of this trope in contemporary times (with Vladimir Putin, for whom see below) is [[Peter Mandelson]], [[Knight Fever|Baron Mandelson]], who is not called (by enemies and [[Appropriated
* [http://www.cracked.com/article_17284_6-people-who-secretly-ruled-world.html 6 people who secretly ruled the world from Cracked.com]. Note that two of the examples are women, and that Rasputin is one of the names on the list.
** In this case it's more 'Woman' behind the Man. Alexander the Great accomplished...well, great things, creating an empire that spanned three continents. The driving force that allowed him to accomplish all that was his mother, Olympias. It was her claim that she had been impregnated by Zeus himself that stopped people from questioning Alexander's rise to the throne. It's highly suspected that she ordered the assassination of her ex-husband, the King of Macedon Philip II, and we know for a fact she then had his second wife and their two children killed to assure no one rivaled Alexander's right as King. So while Alexander was King and off conquering distant lands, Olympias had free reign of the homeland, being able to do whatever she wanted and having unprecedented political power for a woman considering the times. After the death of Alexander in Babylon a civil war broke out in Macedon about who the next regent ruler would be. While initially not taking part, Olympias soon saw that Alexander's son, her grandchild, may lose his claim to the throne, so she threw her power and loyal forces against the opposing sides. She conquered most of Macedon and had Philip III, half brother of her late son, murdered along with hundreds of other people. Eventually she lost and was executed for everything she had done.
* Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, is often accused of being this to the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
** That would actually be more like [[Hijacked
** Not
* Although Emperor Hirohito was the head of the Japanese forces, many military ministers often pressure him to go to war in WWII. The idea that Hirohito was a powerless figurehead has long been
* While president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is certainly the face of the Iranian government and the person most Westerners would think of when asked about leader of Iran, the truth is, the office of president holds very little power in Iran beyond limited influence on economic policy. Foreign policy, command of the army and internal security, control of the media, judicial appointments, and state religion is controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
** However, it's not like this is much of a secret- it doesn't take much research into the Iranian government to figure out that the Supreme Leader, the highest-ranked cleric in the country, actually holds the real power. Unfortunately, most people just hear "president" and assume "Commander-in-Chief".
* Paul von Hindenburg became the Chief of the German General Staff in 1916, which effectively made him military dictator of the German Empire given the Kaiser's indecisiveness and mental anguish. In a double example, Hindenburg himself had neither the energy nor the intelligence for his position, and so he was largely a front-man for the real brains in the High Command, which was Erich Ludendorff. Tragically, the latter was able to manipulate Hindenburg by threatening to expose his reputation, if the latter didn't testify that the German Army was on the verge of victory before being cut off of supplies by Jewish industrialists. Did I mention that Ludendorff was one of the first Nazis?
** Before him, chancellor [[Otto Von Bismark]] played his king like a fiddle, just [[Chessmaster|just like everybody else.]]
* The Soviet Union in the thirties had both a President and a Prime Minister. And behind them, lurked some [[Joseph Stalin|lowly secretary]].
* Martin Bormann was officially just a secretary for [[Adolf Hitler]]. Unofficially, he controlled all access to the Fuehrer, as well as all information that came to and from his headquarters. During the Battle of Berlin, Goering sent a telegram asking, since Hitler was staying in Berlin and had effectively cut himself off from governing, to take control of the crumbling Third Reich. Bormann got the telegram first and was able to paint it to Hitler as a sign of treason, though this may have been a last-ditch effort to get him to leave the capital.
* The Dowager Empress Cixi ruled China for 47 years through her son, and then her grandson. When the latter talked back to her she had him imprisoned.
* To be honest, most
** And likewise the former US President Ronald Reagan, is said to be this trope to Conservative British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, which covers the trope for right wing politics.
*** It seems now, that any
* [[The Mafia|The Genovese Family]] made it a habit to appoint a 'front boss' from the fifties onward to distract law enforcement as well as rival families from the ''actual'' boss. In one case that actual boss was Vincente Gigante [[The Dog Was the Mastermind|who
* In the period leading to the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian media (through political cartoons and the like) would often paint Great Britain as the power behind the Japanese.
* A Mexican period of modern history is called "El Maximato" thanks to Plutarco Elías Calles, A.K.A. "El Jefe Máximo de la Revolución" (the supreme chief of the revolution) being the man behind the man for one presidential period for himself and three presidential periods for his puppet presidents until Lázaro Cárdenas exiled him.
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