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Tyrant Takes the Helm: Difference between revisions
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== Literature ==
* Dolores Umbridge of ''[[Harry Potter and
** She doesn't even try to ''fire'' Hagrid. She tries to ''subdue him as if he were a wild beast'', using a team of Stunners. [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|She treats any "filthy half-breed" like a stupider, lesser being]]. {{spoiler|This proves to be her ''big'' mistake}}.
* When Saruman and Lotho take charge in the "Scouring of the Shire" chapter of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.
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* One of these is basically the major plot motivator in ''[[The Caine Mutiny]]''
* This happens when Prince John usurps [[Richard the Lion Heart|King Richard]]'s throne in many versions of the ''[[Robin Hood]]'' story.
* During the events of Terry Pratchett's ''[[
* In Douglas Coupland's ''[[JPod]]'', this happens twice, although neither of the tyrants is particularly evil. The first one is Steve, who takes over as head of marketing, and promptly attempts to get a cute turtle inserted into the skateboarding game they're designing. He's later {{spoiler|vanished by the Chinese mafia}}, and replaced by Alastair, who turns the game into an edutainment title about a prince and a flying carpet. He frustrates the characters so much that they {{spoiler|find and rescue Steve.}}
* In the third book of the ''[[Septimus Heap]]'' series, Queen Etheldredda the Awful attempts to pull this. She's a ghost, so her ability to do things is somewhat... limited, but she attempts to influence the Princess and her family to various effect. {{spoiler|Those she doesn't like get infected with a dangerous disease via her ugly pet.}}
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* This was part of Baron Harkonnen's plan for ''[[Dune]]'': first have his evil mentat Piter de Vries take control of Arrakis and squeeze every ounce of worth and water out of the people, then have his nephew Feyd swoop in as a big damn hero and win everyone's love and affection. Alas, Piter came down with a bad case of death before he could be put in charge, so the Baron sent his other nephew, the Beast Rabban.
* The plot of ''Gay from China at the [[Chalet School]]'' revolves around this trope. When Miss Bubb, the tyrant in question, takes over as temporary headmistress after Miss Wilson, Miss Annersley and others are injured in a car crash, her fixation on exam results and crackdowns on the girls' free time and privileges makes her very unpopular, to the point where Joey writes a letter begging Miss Wilson to come back. Things comes to a head when she forbids Gay Lambert - who has broken rules on more than one occasion - to see her older brother before he is stationed in Asia, which leads to Gay running away and culminates in Miss Bubb having to resign, to everyone's relief.
* Principal Bottoms from ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid|Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No-Brainer]]'' makes changes such as firing the janitors and even ''canceling the school’s contract with the exterminator''. It gets so bad that {{spoiler|''the state has to close down the school''}}.
== Live-Action TV ==
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* Mr Howard and Ms. Briggs from ''[[iCarly]]'' turn the school into something out of [[Nineteen Eighty-Four]] in ''iHaveMyPrincipals''.
* This trope could almost be called The Snyder, after Armin Shimerman's role on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Snyder replaced Principal Flutie after Flutie was eaten by students possessed by hyenas. While he openly despised pretty much all teenagers, he targeted Buffy and the Scoobie Gang; it was theorized in Season Two that he was working for Mayor Wilkins, but by Season Three [[Aborted Arc|he turned out to be as much in the dark]] [[Weirdness Censor|as the rest of the adult population of Sunnydale]].
* In the ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' episode "Picture of Innocence
* On ''[[NYPD Blue]]'', the first time Lt. Fancy leaves, his replacement definitely fits the trope. Fancy sees what's going on, and arranges to get her removed and comes back. Subverted when he leaves again—everyone (especially Andy) is expecting another tyrant, but the new guy turns out to be OK.
* While DCI Jim Keats doesn't outright take leadership of CID, and while he's a lot subtler than your typical Tyrant, his role in ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' is that of an authority figure who tries to implement some serious changes, going against the grain and established protocol in an effort to - hopefully - usurp the current leader. {{spoiler|Not only does he fail, he reveals his [[Satan|true nature]]. There have been theories that he's tried to take over before, in the guise of Frank Morgan in ''Life on Mars''.}}
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== Real Life ==
* The earliest real-life tyrant (of Greco-Roman usage) was far different from the usual meaning. It did not specifically imply anything other than the tyrant's rise to power was unconventional. Their morality and application of said power could be bad, good, and in between. The negative connontation came from how the bad examples overshadowed the good and led to it's current status as a negative term.
* One of Niccolò Machiavelli's most famous pieces of advice from ''[[The Prince]]'' was to have a Tyrant Take The Helm in a rebellious territory. The tyrant will crush resistance at the cost of arousing public hatred. Then, when you come in and order the tyrant's beheading, you're left with a pacified province of people who consider themselves indebted to you for eliminating the tyrant.
* Many revolutions and coups throughout history have caused tyrants to come to power.
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