Young Conqueror: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The only person with whom I felt any kinship with died three hundred years before the birth of Christ. Alexander of Macedonia, or Alexander the Great, as you know him. His vision of a united world... well, it was unprecedented. I wanted...'' needed ''to match his accomplishments, and so I resolved to apply antiquity's teaching to our world,'' today. ''And so began my path to conquest. Conquest not of men, but of the evils that beset them."''|'''Adrian Veidt''', ''[[Watchmen (Film)|Watchmen]]''}}

[[Wide -Eyed Idealist|Youthful idealism]] can be a beautiful thing. There are few things audiences love more than the idea of a gifted [[Teen Genius|teenager]] (or sometimes simply a young adult) who can see what's wrong with the world and, after initially feeling [[Samaritan Syndrome|overwhelmed and powerless]] in the face of a [[Crapsack World]], deciding that they need to do something about it.

In some cases, may obtain or be born with some [[Superpower Lottery|special power]] to help them achieve their goal. Whether they do or not, the key difference between the [['''Young Conqueror]]''' and [[The Hero]] is that instead of [[They Fight Crime|fighting crime]] on a case by case basis or having to face an already existing [[Big Bad]], they have a much bigger vision and will try to [[Take Over the World]] in a belief that [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]. However, if these ideas are already a quick way for ''adult'' characters to go merrily [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]], being a young, frustrated rebel, complete with the standard [[Youth Is Wasted Onon the Dumb|emotional immaturity and sometimes flat-out childish fantasies]] you'd expect out of someone this age only makes things worse. Consequently, they often end up as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and end up on the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]], unless they are a(n) ([[Anti-Villain|Anti]])[[Villain Protagonist]].

In addition to differing from the typical hero in vision - or ends - they will also differ in the means used. In contrast to the [[Idiot Hero]], the [[Young Conqueror]] will have a strong dose of [[Intelligence Equals Isolation]], which may cause them to be [[Insufferable Genius|quite prideful]]. And instead of a typical hero who reacts to the nefarious plans of the [[Big Bad]] and fights with brawn, they are a [[Guile Hero]] who uses brains to come up with their own schemes, often being either [[The Chessmaster]], [[Manipulative Bastard]], [[Magnificent Bastard]], [[Mary Tzu]], or all of the above, capable of cooking up a [[Xanatos Gambit]] or [[Gambit Roulette]] just as good as or possibly ''better'' than your standard [[Big Bad]]. As such, they are often subversions or ''inversions'' of [[The Villain Makes the Plot]], which is one of the main reasons why these characters are so unique and interesting.

If they're targeted by bullies, expect them to later gloat [[Who's Laughing Now?]], though when they realize the extent of the damage they've caused, they're especially prone to wondering [[My God, What Have I Done?]] and going through a [[Heroic BSOD]] and/or [[Heel Realization]], assuming their [[Ubermensch]] mentality cracks enough to let them see it. These characters often [[Failure Is the Only Option|die young]], seemingly "burned out" by their own genius, though a [[Young Conqueror]] who lives to adulthood can either continue down their path to [[Anti-Villain]] status (or sometimes simply become [[The Big Bad]], deluded by their own idealism), or they can become a [[Mentor]] who issues [[Jacob Marley Warning|Jacob Marley Warnings]]s to other youngsters in their former position.

When [[Young Conqueror]] is done with his conquests, he may settle down to being [[The Emperor]]. If he does it fast enough, he'll be [[Young and in Charge]].

== Anime &and Manga ==

* ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'': all of the four main characters have the mental qualifications to be this, but only Light is idealistic enough to follow this route.

* ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'': a story where the main villain, Johan, has all the qualifications, but rather than changing the world, wants to destroy it, just because he can. Unlike [[For the Evulz]] types who want to watch the world burn, he doesn't seem to get much satisfaction out of the horrible things he does: ''he'' just wants to ''set it on fire''. [[Complete Monster|And is]] ''[[Complete Monster|very good at it]]''.

* Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias from ''[[Watchmen (Comic Bookcomics)|Watchmen]]'', Alexander's fanboy wants to conquer the evils of mankind, he also builds a business empire from scratch and pushes his body and mind to perfection.

== [[Fan FictionWorks]] ==

* ''[[Shinji and Warhammer 40 K (Fanfic)|Shinji and Warhammer 40 KWarhammer40K]]'' elevates Shinji to this trope.

* In ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Methods of Rationality]]'', Harry is very much this trope, and can't really understand why no one's tried to take over the magical world with a working knowledge of scientific principles in the past.

* Michael Corleone in ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]''

* The ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series has had a few of these.

** One such figure that a number of characters admire is a past Targaryen King is known by the moniker "The Young Dragon" and managed to do what all the Targaryens (even those with dragons at their be beck and call) had failed to do; conquer the Kingdom of Dorne. [[Cynical Mentor|An older and more cynical character]] points out that trying to actually hold Dorne, however, took up an ungodly amount of resources and resulted in many casualties, since the Dornish ''prefer'' insurgency anyway. When the Young Dragon died young, Dorne almost immediately threw his armies out and reclaimed their independence.

* The ''backstory'' of Mackenzie Calhoun from ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]''.

* Darth Revan in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (Videovideo Gamegame)|Knights of the Old Republic]]''. Revan was a Jedi prodigy whose peerless strategy won the Mandalorian War for the Republic, and nearly won the Jedi Civil War [[Face Heel Turn|for the Sith]]. S/he built up quite the [[Evil Empire]] before being betrayed in the traditional Sith manner, and is respected and/or feared throughout the Galaxy. All of this {{spoiler|judging by his/her unmasked appearance in the game}} before about twenty-five to thirty.

* The player´´s character in the second installment of the ''[[Overlord]]'' series is a very dark version of this trope.

* The [[Player Character]] in ''[[Fable]] III'' can be played as a [[Young Conqueror]], following in the footsteps of their same-gender parent (the [[Player Character]] of Fable II) who rose from a broke orphan raised by Gypsies to become Monarch of Albion, largely though shrewd Real Estate purchases.

* JC Denton in ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]''; a cyberpunk variation, note the [[Meaningful Name]] (or initials).

* In ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', Masamune plays much the same role, only he's actually got the charisma to make taking over the country achievable. Ieyasu is a more humble and idealistic example who's more interested in making the country a better place than just lording it over everyone else.

* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', Caesar of Caesar's Legion was once this, having founded the Legion at around 21, though he's in his fifties by the time you meet him.

** In something of a variant of this, Alexander was in fact being groomed to be a conqueror by his father who was a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in his own right.

* [[Glorious Leader|Glorious Leaders]]s seem to always ''pretend'' to follow this trope even if they've never fought a war in their entire lives. As modern warfare is too bureaucratized for this, this image becomes something like [[Miles Gloriosus]].

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