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The name comes from "Napoleon complex" (popularly known as "short-man syndrome"), an inferiority complex said to be suffered by short people. Aggressive or dangerous people who are short are often labeled as such to mock them. This was most famously done to the legendary French emperor, [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. Although Napoleon was of average height for his nationality and time period, a number of different factors created the widely held urban legend that he was quite short. English propaganda of the time seized on the perception and portrayed him as comically short to deflate his image.
See [[Mister Big]] for when a vertically-challenged person is head of a criminal
Not to be confused with [[Napoleon Delusion]].
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{{examples}}
== Anime
* Aisaka Taiga from ''[[Toradora!]]'' (pictured above). Her shortness and [[Tsundere|temperament]] has earned her the nickname of "Palmtop Tiger". [[Berserk Button|Do not speak this nickname in front of her.]]
** [[Street Fighter|Tiger Uppercut]]!
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* A milder example is Ryota Miyagi from ''[[Slam Dunk]]''. While he's smart enough to use his lack of height to his advantage in his sports team, he's still somewhat sensitive about it. Then again, being a member of the ''basketball team'' as well as the shortest of the regulars will make you this.
* Kokoro-chan from ''[[Tantei Opera Milky Holmes]]''. Perhaps to compensate, she's especially fond of [[Improbably High IQ|flaunting her IQ]]. In the OVA, she gets a side job of... being a loli idol.
* Ironically (because she otherwise embodies so many ''Russian'' [[National Stereotypes]]), Katyusha of ''[[Girls und Panzer]]'' is extremely sensitive about her height.
== Comic Books ==
== Comics ==▼
* The Big Figure, the dwarf kingpin in ''[[Watchmen]]''. Rorschach is also a small man who wears lifts in his shoes while in costume to appear taller.
* ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' villain, the Mole Man is a short guy who rules Monster Island, where most residents are [[Kaiju]]-size.
* The King in ''[[The Wizard of Id]]''. His reaction to his height seems to vary wildly between [[Wangst]], ruthlessness, and [[Disproportionate Retribution]]—a joke about "short stories" can lead to time on the rack.▼
* Libertad from ''[[Mafalda]]''.▼
* In ''[[Love and Rockets]]'', Carmen is very small and extremely aggressive, though she isn't as nasty as many examples on this page.
* Despite what Hugh Jackman's portrayal may have you believe, [[Wolverine]] is 5'3" and has a legendary temper and mean streak.
▲* Libertad from ''[[Mafalda]]''.
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'': Calvin has been known to have issues with his height. It's particularly frustrating for him that shorts in fact actually touch his feet. Then again, it's possibly subverted by the fact that he's only six years old....▼
** It may just be a [[Stylistic Self Parody|a riff on his character design]], since his legs are cartoonishly short.▼
* Joe Dalton in ''[[Lucky Luke]]''. While his height isn't a problem for him, he is described as a "hysterical midget" and lives up to that description.
* Similarly, [[Iznogoud]]. Both characters' jumping up and down in rage would be a lot less funny if they were taller.
* Jose of ''[[Cybersix]]'', the bratty, bossy son and second-in-command of [[Big Bad|Von Reichter]]. The only thing shorter than him is his temper.
* ''Ivy the Terrible'' from ''[[The Beano]]'' is a short agressive pre-school aged child. Who ocassionally seems to be more agressive and destructive than some of the [[Dennis the Menace UK|older and larger characters]] in the comic.
* Mr. Dithers, the [[Mean Boss]] to Dagwood in ''[[Blondie]]''.▼
* Lord Farquaad from ''[[Shrek]]'', who takes great lengths to appear taller, such as by attaching false legs to his stirrups. Upon seeing Farquaad's massive tower, Shrek suggests that he's [[Compensating for Something]], which could actually go a few ways.
* Kadaj from ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]]'', while not espescially short, is noticeably shorter than his two brothers, as well as Cloud and Sephiroth, and out of all of them tends to act the [[Psychopathic Manchild|most]] [[Large Ham|over-the-top]].
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* [[Big Bad|Mr.]] [[Jerkass|Sykes]] from ''[[Shark Tale]]''. He a short-temperd pufferfish who rules the Whale-Wash with henchmen [[Adult Child|Ernie & Bernie]].
* Yao from ''[[Mulan]]'' is one of the more fierce and [[Blood Knight]] -ish soldiers on the heroes side... and is also the shortest of them.
* The main antagonist of ''[[Wreck-It Ralph]]'' is {{spoiler|actually King Candy, a short, jovial, funny-looking guy whose size and personality makes him [[Beneath Suspicion]] for most of the movie}}.
* Swan in ''[[Phantom of the Paradise]]'', played by a 5'2 [[Paul Williams]], has shortened doorways at the Swanage/Death Records.
* Vizzini from ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'' hires the strongest giant and most deadly swordsman he can find, but feels no fear in constantly browbeating and threatening them.
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* Ottilio Panza, an assassin in ''[[The Boondock Saints]] II'', wears elevator shoes. He also lies down next to his victims after killing them, comparing his height with theirs.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* The Helmacron race from ''[[Animorphs]]''.
* Curly from all incarnations of ''[[Of Mice and Men]]''.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** The Nac Mac Feegle
** Corporal Strappi from ''[[
** Big Fido, feared canine psychopath and charismatic leader of Ankh-Morpork's Dog Guild, was a small fluffy white poodle.
* Aliera e'Kieron from the ''[[Dragaera]]'' series. She goes as far as levitating to appear taller, which provides a [[Blood Knight|handy excuse for a duel]] when someone points it out. She seems to have dropped the practice later in the series's timeline.
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* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Many times, a short male character will pop up and the author or one of the characters will say that the guy probably has a Napoleon Complex. This sort of character is portrayed as a [[Jerkass]] at best and a [[Complete Monster]] at worst by the author. At times this seems to go into the territory of [[Unfortunate Implications]].
* Horace Rangoon, the villain in ''The Rio Hondo Kid'' by [[J. T. Edson]].
== Live-Action TV ==
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* Ben Linus of ''[[Lost]]'' gets extra points for being implicitly compared to Napoleon once or twice. At 5'8'', he's just Napoleon's height, too, and while quite the gentleman, certainly dangerous and power-hungry enough to qualify.
* Blaine Anderson from ''[[Glee]]'' shows flashes of this from time to time, being 5'7" in a cast where the average male height is 5'10 to six feet. The crew tries to use camera tricks to make Blaine seem [[Seme|appropriately tall]] compared [[Uke|to his boyfriend Kurt]], but it's getting less frequent (and a number of fans like it ''more'' than the traditional height conventions).
* Fozzie's agent Irving Bizarre, who appeared on one episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]''; a short and snarky guy, despite being so short that his hat covers his entire body:
{{quote|'''Kermit:''' Who else do you handle? Rich ''Little''? Tiny Tim?
'''Irving:''' I wouldn't handle ''you'' pal, I'd get ''warts''!}}
:* Irving was intended as a caricature of Hollywood talent agent [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Paul_Lazar Irving Lazar], who was also very short.
==
▲* The King in ''[[The Wizard of Id]]''. His reaction to his height seems to vary wildly between [[Wangst]], ruthlessness, and [[Disproportionate Retribution]]—a joke about "short stories" can lead to time on the rack.
* The Quarterback gives orders to the offensive line in a football game, and is generally expected to by smaller and more spry than the other players. Conversely, telling a large person they'd be good at blocking carries the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of calling them a [[Dumb Muscle|Meat Shield]]. However, this is a relative measurement as most quarterbacks are at least 6 feet tall as a requirement if only to to see over the heads of the offensive line and to thrown 'down' at the smaller wide receivers. As far as blocking, it's harder than it looks and it's an vital part of any offense, if no where near as glamourous as other positions.▼
▲* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'': Calvin has been known to have issues with his height. It's particularly frustrating for him that shorts in fact actually touch his feet. Then again, it's possibly subverted by the fact that he's only six years old....
* In international football (soccer), quite a number of the truly great centre forwards were of below-average height with a somewhat squat figure that belied their talent for explosive speed and ability to jump higher than taller defenders to head a ball. Good cases in point were Ferenc Puskas of Hungary, and Uwe Seeler (known to his teammates as "Dicker" = "fat one") and Gerd Müller (fondly known as "kleines dickes Müller" = "little fat Müller") of West Germany.▼
▲** It may just be a [[Stylistic Self Parody|a riff on his character design]], since his legs are cartoonishly short.
▲* Mr. Dithers, the [[Mean Boss]] to Dagwood in ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]]''.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In the ''[[BattleTech]]'' universe, Victor Steiner-Davion may be the most obvious example (mostly because he regularly gets accused of this by his detractors). In reality, he's not overly sensitive about his height... but he ''is'' physically short, has to live up to being the firstborn son of two of the most famous and popular rulers in the recent history of the Inner Sphere, and doesn't suffer fools gladly, so, close enough.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Hermia in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' seems to have this as her [[Berserk Button]]. Sure, she's angry because she thinks Helena stole her boyfriend, but what ''really'' gets her riled are the short jokes.
* Subverted in the song "Napoleon" from the Guy Bolton-[[P. G.
== Video Games ==
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* Date Masamune as portrayed in ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' is fairly small compared to others ([[Bratty Half-Pint|especially in the first game]]) and is the resident [[Smug Snake]] who wants you to know that you are an ''[[Verbal Tic|imbecile!]]''
=== Visual Novels ===
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'': Even though he doesn't really fit this trope in terms of personality (or height for that matter), Shirou seems to be quite conscious about being "too short," even though he's actually normal height. It seems like he'll eventually go through an [[Future Badass|insane growth spurt]], but chances are that this spurt is of unnatural causes.
* Reo from the [[Hentai]] [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo]]''. Also a [[Tsundere]].
== Web Animation ==
* Strong Bad from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', even though he's really the second shortest character and of course the shortest is The Cheat, his [[Non-Human Sidekick]].
* Paul Hammerbro from ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]''. The only one shorter than him is Jeff and Paul has a temper to match.
== Web Comics ==
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* While it's not too obvious because he's usually around people his own height or less, [[Homestuck|Doc Scratch]], [[The Man Behind the Man]] (behind the man behind the {{spoiler|end of the universe}}) is only about four feet tall.
* "[[No Name Given|Shorty]]" from ''[[Skullkickers]]'' is a [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|dwarf]] with a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]], described by the creators as being 'always one step away from and explosion of emotional rage'.
== Web Original ==
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]], scary-tempered sociopath that she is, gets fairly insecure about being the shortest on [[That Guy With The Glasses]] and wears high heeled boots everywhere to combat it.
== Western Animation ==
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* Bart Simpson in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Radioactive Man", in an attempt to get the part for Fallout Boy for the titular film being made, did several things indicative of the trope, including wearing elevator shoes, wearing a pin-stripe suit with vertical lines, and having a chihuahua as a scale for comparison. He ultimately doesn't get the part only because he was still a few inches too short. Milhouse got the part instead.
* The titular character of [[Dan Vs.]].
== Real Life ==
* The actual [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] was 5'7, above average height for an 18th century Frenchman (5'5). It was propaganda from his sworn enemy, England, that created his reputation as a miniature, petty tyrant. A number of misconceptions have aided in perpetuating the image to this day. First, French feet of the time period were longer than modern feet, causing his height in French feet to be numerically smaller. Also, his nickname ''le Petit Caporal'', "the Little Corporal", actually referred to his humble background and modesty around his troops, rather than his physical size. Finally, he was often seen during war time on foot, surrounded by hulking bodyguards (who had a height requirement), making him look short by comparison.
* Male politicians and political leaders often go to great lengths to prevent themselves from appearing short.
** French president Nicolas Sarkozy is infamous for his attempts to hide his short height. While ex-president Bush is 15 cm (6 inches) taller than him, they appear the same size on [http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5358/sarkozypetitsaufavecdieuuh7.jpg the rightmost photo]. But what is the guy on the right [[Scully Box|looking at]]? There are also [http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/7854/sarkozypointedespiedsdsjy0.jpg some official pictures of French governments] where he can be seen on the tips of his feet in order to seem taller. Some people actually make a comparison with Napoleon for this reason. One of his nickname among his opponent is "Naboleon" (Midgetoleon). Ironically, few people would care about his height if he didn't go to such embarrassing lengths to conceal it : many recent world leaders (Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev, Hu Jintao, and his current main political opponent (François Hollande) are about as short or even shorter than him and their height is almost never commented upon. In fact, his temper about his height is so famous that '''songs''' have been written about it. [[French Political System|This page]] has a few examples.
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** Caesar Augustus was around 5'7" according to his secretary (5'9" in Roman units), but biographer Suetonius says this is slightly inflated and he was known for wearing thick-soled shoes.
** North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was infamous for wearing platform shoes and a bouffant hairstyle to make himself seem taller. When asked about Kim's height, Madeleine Albright noted that without his lifts, she stood eye-to-eye with him.
** While [[George W. Bush]] is not short, in the 2004 American presidential election he faced the noticeably taller John Kerry. A minor news story broke revealing the back-and-forth negotiations between the two presidents' camps on how to film the debates. The Bush camp was particularly concerned about Bush appearing too short while standing near Kerry.
** Inverted by George W. Bush's father, [[George H. W. Bush]], during his tenure as Ronald Reagan's vice-president. Bush was an inch taller than Reagan and took pains to avoid standing next to him in photos until after Reagan's term of office was over.
* Small dogs are generally more aggressive than large dogs due to the fact that they have to work so much harder to maintain their place in the hierarchy. Their higher metabolism also gives them more forceful personalities in general, whether friendly or mean. Even the tiniest and cutest dogs have the instincts of hunters. In fact, many small dog breeds (like terriers) were specifically bred to hunt and kill vermin. Compounding the problem, many owners fail to train their small dogs properly, believing that their [[Mister Muffykins]] is harmless.
* [[Harlan Ellison]]
* Scientology's current{{when}} leader David Miscavige. If the accounts from ex-members that he frequently beats his staff and encourages other high-ranking officials to do so and manipulates promotional pictures so that he looks taller are to be believed... Could also be considered a [[Mister Big]] depending on your personal opinions of Scientology.
* [[Alexander
* [[Attila the Hun]] may have suffered from dwarfism.
* [[Richard E. Grant]] and Paul McGann, the stars of ''[[Withnail and I]]'', once had not-quite-an-argument—apparently more of a friendly debate—about whether Real Classic Movie Stars are generally short, according to Grant's memoirs. McGann, who's 5'8", thought so;
* Bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was a raving loony, with a whole keyboard full of [[Berserk Button]]s, but the biggest one was his height: he was only 5'4".
* Although he was portrayed by 6'2 Peter O'Toole in ''[[Lawrence of Arabia]]'', in real life T.E. Lawrence was 5'5.
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* When Prince Eugene of Savoy-Carignan (1663-1736) requested to be appointed to be given command of a regiment, King Louis XIV of France refused because he said Eugene was too scrawny and too little. Refusing to accept this, Eugene entered the service of the Holy Roman Emperor and eventually rose to supreme command of the Austrian Army. Especially during the [[War Of Spanish Succession]], in which Eugene together with the Duke of Marlborough led the main Allied Army, Louis must have deeply regretted judging the man once known as the "little abbé" by his appearance...
* Despite slightly taller than the American average height (though would be slightly under the average for post-1901 Presidents) at 5'10", Marco Rubio developed (or was seen as having developed) one due to an inability to stop feeding the 6'2" [[Donald Trump]]'s "Little Marco" nickname for him. It reached the point Rubio started wearing high heeled boots to compensate, which attracted more attention than his height.
* Japanese officers in [[World War
=== Sports ===
▲* The Quarterback gives orders to the offensive line in a football game, and is generally expected to by smaller and more spry than the other players. Conversely, telling a large person they'd be good at blocking carries the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of calling them a [[Dumb Muscle|Meat Shield]]. However, this is a relative measurement as most quarterbacks are at least 6 feet tall as a requirement if only to to see over the heads of the offensive line and to thrown 'down' at the smaller wide receivers. As far as blocking, it's harder than it looks and it's an vital part of any offense, if no where near as glamourous as other positions.
▲* In international football (soccer), quite a number of the truly great centre forwards were of below-average height with a somewhat squat figure that belied their talent for explosive speed and ability to jump higher than taller defenders to head a ball. Good cases in point were Ferenc Puskas of Hungary, and Uwe Seeler (known to his teammates as "Dicker" = "fat one") and Gerd Müller (fondly known as "kleines dickes Müller" = "little fat Müller") of West Germany.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Body Image Tropes]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]
▲[[Category:The Napoleon]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Napoleon, The}}
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