In any organisation with a power structure, you have the ones at the top like the Big Bad and the Big Good, to The Captain, the Sergeant Rock, and the Mook Lieutenant, all the way down to the humble Mook and Red Shirt.
But then you have those who, on paper, are part of the organization and so, theoretically, should be taking orders from their superiors. But they don't. They effectively function as an independent party, but they still claim loyalty to the organization as a whole.
They aren't allies, but full-fledged members of the group or faction, only they operate independently. Whether or not the people in charge are okay with this tends to vary, with some being more than willing to tolerate it because they are they are just that competent at their role, others deciding to just leave them alone because it isn't worth the trouble, and others still that do all they can to get them to tow the line. And of course, there are those superiors who don't mind or even like this sort of scenario because it gives them Plausible Deniability.
Why this comes about can vary:
1) They may hate their superior but are still loyal to the faction as a whole.
2) While loyal to the faction or organisation, they value their independence and so resist any sort of attempt to rein them in.
3) They think they know better than their superior, and so intend to demonstrate by going off on their own.
4) They are only part of the organisation or faction for the perks, and have no real loyalty to it overall.
5) The organisation or faction itself is basically a loose collection of allied forces, but while the majority of members will respond to the leader this character may not.
This is not a situation with The Alleged Boss, where the superior is basically ignored by their subordinates, sometimes because they just don't have the temperament or authority to control them. Instead, it's one subordinate who treats their superior in that manner, and the superior's authority is respected by most others. This character may, however, be an Almighty Janitor, who is low ranking in terms of formal rank but has disproportionate levels of power.
Being one of these allows for the twist that they are in fact The Man Behind the Man or The Man in Front of the Man, as both those tropes revolve around the true power being someone unexpected. A common twist is that one of these works for The Man Behind the Man or The Man in Front of the Man, hence why they seem to get away with disrespecting The Chain of Command.
Compare Aloof Ally who may not be part of the group or faction but still lends a hand while maintaining a certain distance, or the villainous variant Enigmatic Minion who might be a subordinate but have their own agenda. Can lead to a Right Hand Versus Left Hand scenario where this sort of character has their loyalty called into question. May lead to bitterness on the parts of other members of the organisation when this character gets away with actions that they would be punished for. A Feral Villain may fall under this, as while they might be part of a group or faction, they are so difficult to control that they are simply unleashed and allowed to rampage rather than given orders.
To avoid current event controversies, for Real Life No Recent Examples, Please!, at least none earlier than thirty years following the event.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball:
- Deliberately invoked by Piccolo-daimaou when he declares himself ruler of the world and urges the populace to give in to their base desires. He didn't need anyone to pledge allegiance to him, since he was already the ruler of the world; what he wanted was for people to do as they please, and that would be how they served him.
- The Saiyans in DBZ:
- While the Sayians followed orders from Frieza and his clan, they were pretty much left to operate and act on their own so long as they didn't interfere with Frieza's family. In fact, behind the scenes, King Vegeta was actually planning to betray Frieza. Unfortunately, Frieza himself, becoming fearful of the Saiyans' potential, chose to exterminate them before things got that far.
- Even after his home planet was destroyed, Prince Vegeta, despite taking orders from Frieza, was also effectively independent. The remaining Saiyans in Frieza's army besides himself, i.e., Raditz and Nappa, were basically subservient to Vegeta rather than Frieza... though naturally in Frieza's actual presence, all of them became subservient since he was fully capable of killing them all effortlessly.
- The Supreme Kais, Gods of Destruction, and Angels are meant to be loyal to the Omni-King, Zen'O, and the Grand Priest, the highest of the Angels. In truth, all of them are pretty much left to their own devices, with several of the Kais and Destroyers being lazy in their work. Beerus is a big example; he destroys planets entirely out of his own choice, heedless of others' advisement, and spends many years in between destroying worlds sleeping. He actually allowed Frieza and his clan to go about their business despite the threat they posed to his universe simply because they destroyed worlds in his stead and did his job for him. Of course, none of them are stupid enough to ignore a direct summons from the Omni-King, and in his presence, a single glare is enough to silence even the rowdiest of them.
- Naruto: Several of the Akatsuki members are this. Kakuzu was a bounty hunter who was only interested in money, Sasori had his own agendas, Orochimaru wanted to study the Akatsuki as well as pursue the Rinnegan, which was possessed by Pain, A.K.A. Nagato, and Hidan just wanted to kill people. The organization's founders, Nagato/Pain, Konan, and Tobi/Obito, actually brought in many of their members by invoking this, offering them protection and letting them act freely so long as they aided in capturing the Tailed Beasts. However, when the leaders issue direct orders (i.e., to work as a pair for a particular mission), then those orders were expected to be followed.
- Gundam:
- Mobile Suit Gundam:
- Played with in regard to the White Base. After most of the crew is killed during the attack on Side 7, various civilians are forced to take up positions on the ship, including piloting the three Mobile Suits aboard. When the White Base finally makes it to Earth Federation HQ Jaburo, they're informed personally by EFF Supreme Commander General Revil that they will have to formally join the military or be imprisoned for a year for learning military secrets during wartime note Revil explains that the penalty would normally be execution (it is wartime, after all), but due to the extenuating circumstances a year's imprisonment was judged sufficient because after that, any military value of the information they had would be nil. The White Base is designated "the 13th Autonomous Corps", permitted to move between theatres of war as the highest brass (including General Revil) sees fit. In theory, this means that when the White Base enters a particular theatre, it falls under The Chain of Command of the Federation Forces of that area. In practice, the various commanders give the crew of the White Base the broadest of instructions and then let them operate practically independently (though normally in support of their own troops). Part of this is because by that point the higher brass are aware that Zeon views the White Base as a high-priority target note the White Base had already fended off the Red Comet Char Aznable repeatedly, killed Earth Attack Force commander Garma Zabi, and the Gundam aka "the White One" had become The Dreaded , and so found the White Base crew as most useful as a decoy to distract Zeon from the more Boring, but Practical operations the Federation was launching.
- As the war progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the goals and methods of Gihren Zabi and his younger sister Kycilia Zabi do not align. While Kycilia, on paper, follows the orders of her older brother in his role as Supreme Commander of the Zeon military, she also has numerous side projects (e.g., the video game Zeonic Front stars a special unit formed by Kycilia with the purpose of travelling to various fronts as needed, she forms an elite ace pilot unit known as the Chimera) to the point that Gihren tasks Challia Bull to keep an eye on her. In materials that involve "what if" scenarios like Gihren's Greed and Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, this escalates to a cold war in the latter and outright warfare in the former.
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Zigzagged by the Titans. As a State Sec with authority to handle Zeon remnants (and later anti-Federation dissent), they answer to the Earth Federation. However, they're explicitly outside of the Federation military's chain of command, with each Titan rank being counted as two ranks higher than the equivalent Federation rank (e.g., a Titan ensign was considered equal to a Federation lieutenant). Titan leader Jamitov Hymen at least paid lip service to serving the Federation, answering to his patrons in the Federation government over the course of the series while pretty much doing whatever he wanted (including nuking the former Earth Federation HQ at Jaburo, wiping out a large number of Federation troops in the process). Ultimately, when the Titans launch an assault on AEUG at the capital of Dakar despite the Federation senate being in session, this blatant disregard for the delegates' safety leads to the Titans being declared traitors, with the much more numerous Federation soldiers finally allowed to repay the Titans with interest. Within a few weeks, the Titans have been completely driven back to their stronghold of Gryps II, scrambling to make a Last Stand.
- Mobile Suit Gundam:
- Pokémon the Series: When Ash manages to get a Charizard, it becomes a Running Gag that while on paper he's the Charizard's trainer, in practice it pretty much ignores him. This is based on the mechanic from the games, where if a trainer's level is too low compared to their Pokémon (i.e., they traded for a Pokémon with another player), the Pokémon may ignore their instructions.
Comic Books
- IDW Publishing's original Transformers continuity:
- As across the various titles, Prowl repeatedly expresses his frustration that the Autobots are sometimes an army in name only, as several units and individual Autobots go off and do their own thing, the war effort be damned. Optimus Prime doesn't help, as he is prone to turning a blind eye to this (no doubt helped by how series set in the past like Autocracy and some parts of Transformers: More than Meets the Eye show he was a Cowboy Cop back when he was a police officer). A particularly egregious example are the Wreckers; in pursuit of Impactor's obsessive and petty vendetta against their opposite number Squadron X, they ignored several important battles and campaigns, some of which were major enough to be recorded as being points where the fate of the war hung in the balance.
- When they were first introduced, the Dinobots were portrayed as deserters who went AWOL from the Autobot army to pursue a grudge against Shockwave, and later material that takes place earlier chronologically portray them as always having been difficult to control (though the fact they were a special operations unit helps justify it).
- Part of Prowl's frustration as noted above is that the Decepticons avert this. The best example is Skyquake: he led his Predators on a campaign in a portion of space and successfully conquered several planets that he ruled as a practically independent warlord. But when Megatron planned to execute "the Surge" (a major campaign meant to cripple the Autobot war effort once and for all via simultaneous attacks and a communications blackout thanks to codes provided by an Autobot traitor), Skyquake fell in line and carried out his orders.
- Star Wars (Marvel 2015): In the aftermath of the Death Star's destruction, Darth Vader is placed under the command of General Tagge, who had departed the Death Star shortly before the fateful Battle of Yavin 4. Thanks to Emperor Palpatine's assurances, Tagge believes that this gives him full authority over Vader, making a comparison that Vader is a lightsaber and he is the arm that will wield that lightsaber to full effectiveness. In practice, Vader pretty much does as he pleases, as he goes on a solo quest to gather personal resources not reliant on Palpatine's whims. Tagge's attempt to keep tags on him by assigning an aide backfires when Vader frames the aide as a traitor.
- Transformers (2019):
- Despite being a Senator (and so theoretically answering to the Senate), the brilliant but temperamental Straxxus is described as having never bothered to attend a single session. Instead, he runs the province of Darkmount as his own personal domain.
- Discussed when Megatron launches his coup, and he orders Jhiaxus, Soundwave, Strika, and Ratbat to spread the word to their supporters. While Soundwave and Strika make to comply immediately, an annoyed Jhiaxus takes offense to being bossed around, pointing out that while Megatron leads the Ascenticon political party, they are all Senators. An irate Megatron bluntly tells him they were now in a state of war, so he could either do what he was told and they could sort all that out later, or he doesn't, the coup fails, and they all get executed. Seeing the logic in this, Jhiaxus complies.
- The Transformers (Marvel): The flashback story "And There Shall Come... A Leader!" reveals that Optimus Prime of all people was this to his supposed superiors in the Council of Autobot Elders as the war progressed. When the war began, the Elders tried to run the war by committee from the safety of their fortified bunker in the capital city of Iacon. Due to this, the Autobots were driven to the brink. Optimus Prime was a fairly low-ranking officer, but gained his comrades' respect by being a capable combatant on the field as well as knowing when to ignore the orders of his superiors. When word came down that he'd been appointed Supreme Commander, he noted that he would've gone ahead with his plan even if the Elders had opposed it, since it was the only chance they had to stop Megatron's advance.
- Transformers: Shattered Glass: Invoked by Optimus Prime while discussing the Omega Doom project with Ironhide.
Optimus Prime: "Succeed, old friend, and you shall have your own star system to rule as you see fit."
Fan Works
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: Ami hires Marda, and that employment is enforced by a magical bond, but Marda is basically the only known person who can quit at will, so they're basically an independent contractor.
- The Mountain and the Wolf: The Wolf joins Daenerys' army at Winterfell and Dragonstone, but it's obvious he'll do what he feels like, secure in the knowledge that no one will stop him. He is indeed Playing Both Sides, having suborned the Iron Fleet and arranged for Cersei to have the Golden Company's War Elephants on her side.
Films — Live-Action
- Star Wars:
- A New Hope: Throughout the film, Darth Vader defers to Grand Moff Tarkin and generally follows his orders, creating an appearance that he is subordinate to him. However, while Tarkin is the supreme commander of all Imperial armed forces in the Outer Rim territories, Vader is not part of said armed forces, but of the parallel Sith Order hierarchy, as the apprentice and personal enforcer of Emperor Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Sidious). While both Tarkin and Vader thus report directly to the Emperor, their relative ranking is deliberately fuzzy, and Vader mainly obeys Tarkin's orders to humor him and Palpatine.
- The Empire Strikes Back: Played with by Boba Fett. While he's been hired by Darth Vader as one of the various bounty hunters tasked with hunting down the Millennium Falcon, he's an independent contractor and so not one of Darth's actual subordinates. This allows him to bluntly complain to Vader when he fears that Vader's actions will result in the death of Han Solo (who has a tremendous bounty on his head, but only if taken alive), though he's mollified when Vader assures him the Empire will compensate him if Solo perishes. He is also shown issuing instructions to a group of Stormtroopers, telling them to take Solo to his ship while he holds off Luke Skywalker and the other heroes.
Literature
- Animorphs: The Vissers are given titles depending on how high they are on the Yeerk totem pole, with the primary antagonist being Visser Three. When Visser One appears in person, while on paper Visser One outranks Visser Three, in practice like all Vissers they are jockeying for position. It's even mentioned that Visser One actually has a much smaller army than Visser Three, but that smaller army is completely made up of Elite Mooks and so neither Visser wants to risk open warfare.
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator: A The Man in Front of the Man example. With the somewhat childish President of the United States, the real power behind the presidential throne is the eighty-nine-year-old Vice-President Miss Tibbs, who was the president's childhood nanny, is as strict with him now as she was when he was a little boy, and had encouraged him to become a politician, as he had no talents as a young man, and could not even read or write.
- Gate: Youji Itami is a 1st Lieutenant in the JSDF. However, while he is technically in charge of the 3rd Recon Division, after he left his unit to go fight a flame dragon in order to help Tuuka deal with her growing insanity by killing the dragon that killed her father, he is given numerous commendations, lordly titles, honorary membership in the tribe of Dark Elves, a very large diamond, and technical "ownership" of Yao Ha Dushi (at her insistence). Itami had also just rescued Noriko, a Japanese citizen, from being a Sex Slave to Prince Zorzal. As such, while he was suspended by his immediate superior for two weeks for breaking orders, General Hazama then stated that when Itami's suspension was over, he was free to "roam at will" to find resources and make inroads with the local populace, effectively making him a free agent in reality.
- The Monster Baru Cormorant: When Admiral Ormsment goes rogue to seek revenge on Baru, she "hires" the Professional Killer Tain Shir to help and advise her. Shir agrees to the brevet rank of captain, but has her own reasons for hunting Baru, and in their first confrontation has her dead to rights only only to allow her to escape in full view of Ormsment's marines. When Ormsment tries to have Shir flogged for insubordination, Shir one-ups her by leaping off the ship and keelhauling herself to demonstrate that she has no fear of punishment, pain, or death. Afterwards, Ormsment accepts she can't control Shir and lets her have her way, even allowing her to dictate the course of the ship.
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms:
- When Dong Zhuo takes over the Han imperial government, many officials become petty warlords backed by nothing but force of arms. They still claim loyalty to the Han Empire, and in fact even accept or make use of titles granted to them by Dong in an attempt to mollify them (e.g., Inspector of X Province, Governor of Y Province), as they are granted in the Emperor's name. The nominal part comes in when the Emperor manages to escape the remnants of Dong's forces following Dong's assassination by Lu Bu, and sends messengers calling for His loyal servants to come to His aid. Only Cao Cao arrives with a sizable force, allowing him to take the Emperor under his protection.
- Some time after the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, where Sun Quan and Liu Bei managed to fight off Cao Cao, thus preventing the latter from completing his conquest of the land, Sun decides to offer surrender to Cao. This is because he is gearing up for battle with Liu Bei (whom he accuses of betraying their alliance by not returning territory Sun claimed as his), and so wanted to avoid a war on two fronts. Cao recognises the tactic for what it is, but decides to go along with it because he accepts that he simply won't be able to successfully invade Sun's territory so long as it is competently held. Sun dutifully sends emissaries to the Imperial Court like a faithful servant of the Han, but it's open knowledge that, despite Sun accepting a Han noble title and rank, he's for all intents and purposes an independent force.
- Small Gods: Vorbis is just a deacon in the church of Om (we never even see the leadership), but he spearheads an invasion / holy war of Omnia's neighbors, intent on stamping out any who opposes the idea that the world is a sphere. The actual god Om has nothing to do with it; Vorbis has essentially convinced himself that Om told him to do this. Somehow, despite his low rank, he is able to arrest generals and spearhead military operations.
Live-Action TV
- Earth: Final Conflict: Sandoval is an FBI agent who never does any FBI work. He only works for the Taelons, and eventually for Zo'or personally, and he's ultimately loyal only to himself. When the new head of global intelligence tries to bring Sandoval to heel, Sandoval tells him "I answer to no one."
- Three Kingdoms: In the Wu portions that revolve around Sun Quan, shades of this colour his relationships with his supreme commanders Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Lu Meng. All three do as they see fit, despite him being the one in overall charge. He tolerates this with Zhou Yu and Lu Su (the former because at the time he himself was inexperienced, and Zhou was also the loyal sworn brother to Sun's older brother Sun Ce, while Lu Su would mollify and explain his reasons for going against Sun's instructions). However, Lu Meng deliberately ignores his express orders against waging war on Shu note Sun hoped to simply pressure Shu into concessions, due to feeling that actually waging war on Shu would not be helpful , going so far as to constantly be on the move so Sun's messengers intended to deliver orders to him to stand down couldn't find him to actually deliver said orders. While this does bring them the coveted province of Jing, it's implied Sun Quan had Lu Meng killed for the insult, as when the next candidate for the job Lu Xun visits him, Sun shows him Lu Meng's corpse and notes he "died suddenly of illness".
- The Wire: Discussed. After replacing the Lieutenant "Unit Killer" Marimow, Cedric Daniels tells Detective Lester Freamon "as far as I'm concerned, you are the Major Crimes Unit" and promises he can even pick his own supervisor.
Tabletop Games
- Warhammer 40,000:
- The Harlequins are a sub-group of the Aeldari, but serve no one save Cegorach, the Laughing God. They are nevertheless welcome among all the Aeldari factions, including the Drukhari of Commorragh, due to their skill in battle and fantastic weapons that are powerful even by Aeldari standards. Any Aeldari leader is thrilled to have a troupe of them at their side, but none of them are foolish enough to think they actually command them. Even in situations where a Harlequin is part of an entourage, their status as a Harlequin allows them to function as an Honest Advisor, and it's also understood they may up and leave at any time.
- The command structure of the Imperium of Man is a convoluted mess due to the complicated relationships between the various factions within the Imperium. For example, while Space Marines might be assigned to fight alongside members of the Astra Militarium, only the most confident and accomplished generals or officers feel comfortable issuing orders to "the Emperor's Angels" and so most often these are couched as "requests". All Imperial factions must heed the words of the Inquisition, but generally the most successful Inquisitors are the ones who understand that throwing their weight around, especially when dealing with any of the Founding Chapters like the Ultramarines, the Imperial Fists and especially the Space Wolves, is a terrible idea.
Toys
- Transformers:
- This was originally the big personality trait of Grimlock and his Dinobots. While nominally Autobots, both the toy bio and Marvel comic book portray them as basically being "Autobots in name only", as they despise Optimus Prime and think he is a weakling undeserving of leadership. Even the original cartoon had shades of this, with Grimlock on one occasion grumbling about having to rescue the Autobots again. The comic version of Grimlock took it even further, straight up abandoning the main Autobot army so he could take the fight to the Decepticons his way. More modern takes on Grimlock make him a loyal Boisterous Bruiser.
- The original version of Staxus from the Marvel comics ascended to leadership of the Decepticons following Megatron's disappearance, and when the latter re-established contact with Cybertron, there was no real conflict between them since Straxus was on Cybertron while Megatron on Earth. Even then, Straxus was at least willing to cooperate with Megatron. Later versions of Straxus are generally portrayed as being Decepticons, but hold no loyalty to Megatron yet are still dangerous enough that they're basically left alone to terrorise their own small corner of the globe. The Generations toy bio stresses Straxus is so terrible that even Megatron hesitates to cross him, but he luckily is perfectly content ruling over his territory of Darkmount. The Transformers Roleplaying Game similarly has him ruling over the colony of Lucifer, and because he has turned the colony into an entirely self-sufficient and very successful supply production centre, Megatron sees no reason to try to keep him in line, as Straxus is at least still contributing to the war effort.
- While all the combiners still have a military rank, most combiners on both sides have reduced intelligence as a side effect of the combination (generally the combiner is focused on whatever the component Transformers can agree on) and so usually deployed as tactical weapons. Bruticus, for example, is described as a model soldier who will execute his orders to the best of his ability, but his fatal flaw is that without orders, he's prone to simply stand around waiting to be told what to do. This is not the case with Abominus and Menasor, who are so feral and insane respectively that they can't be given orders, and so are simply pointed in the direction of the enemy and let loose.
- Gutcruncher is on paper a Decepticon. However, his toy bio gives him the extraordinary rank of 10, on par with faction leaders like Megatron or Optimus Prime. This is because he is actually an outside contractor who simply works for the Decepticons because he's well compensated.
Video Games
- A variation of this can be seen in games that include an Escort Mission, specifically those where in-story the player should be able to give the escort target orders (e.g. in-game the player is explicitly higher-ranking and so should be able to order the escort target to hold position while the player scouts ahead), but during gameplay the escort target moves independently. This is often to a player's frustration, and thus why generally escort missions are disliked.
- Destiny: The Hive are led by three major sibling gods - Oryx, Savathun, and Xivu Arath. Oryx is the God-King of the Hive, the strongest of them all, and is basically the closest to being the leader of the Hive. However, he and his sisters, Savathun and Xivu, are all independent from each other, with their own individual armies and "Throne Worlds", pocket dimensions which act as their citadels. For much of their lives as the Hive, the three siblings continually made war on one another just as much as they made war on other civilizations. This is due to their adherence to the "Sword-Logic", the Hive's belief system, which demands that its followers become "sharper" by gaining power and domination above all else, even if that means destroying one's own kin.
- Disgaea: Etna is officially Laharl's Vassal, linked to him by proxy of having served his late father. In practice, Etna really only sticks around because she promised Overlord Krichevskoy that she would take care of his son. Etna's temporarily broken off from Laharl at least twice to pursue her own interests (usually as the result of petty spats with him) and is constantly compared to other Overlords in terms of power. She could probably go fully independent if she wanted to, but be it begrudging affection for the King's son or stubbornness in the face of a promise, Etna remains. note The Disgaea novels make it more clear that the latter was the original reason she stuck around, but the former eventually took more priority to the point most of Laharl's subordinates believe she, Laharl, and Flonne are in a Love Triangle.
- Dragon Age II: According to Chantry law, Templars answer to the local Grand Cleric, yet Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard of Kirkwall is infamous for brazenly ignoring the Chantry's laws on how to treat mages and how much power Templars are permitted to hold. As early as Act 1, she is using the Rite of Tranquility on mages who have passed their Harrowings even though that is explicitly illegal, and by Act 3, she has for all intents and purposes usurped the office of the Viscount even though Templars are explicitly forbidden from holding any kind of secular office. In theory, Grand Cleric Elthina has the power to tell Meredith to stop, but is never shown actually doing so. Even when Elthina denies Meredith's request for the Right of Annulment, Meredith just goes over Elthina's head and petitions Divine Justinia directly; Justinia also doesn't seem overly concerned with Meredith's flagrant abuse of power, instead focusing on the mages rebelling against Meredith's rule. After Elthina is murdered in the destruction of the local Chantry, Meredith invokes the Right of Annulment without permission from Justinia, despite the fact that the mage responsible was not a member of the local Circle. When news of this reaches the other Circles, it proves to be the last straw, and mages as a whole start rebelling against Chantry rule for allowing Meredith and others like her to abuse their power so openly.
Web Animation
- hololive:
- According to their lore, Advent is led by Shiori Novella. However, her alleged subordinates include a demon with a bewitching voice, a living gem that affects emotion, and a pair of twin demon dogs imprisoned for being overly mischievous. Shiori herself may not be human anymore, but lorewise she really has no way of reigning the others in if they don't want to go along with her. Luckily, most of the time they do, but generally either Koseki Bijou or Fuwawa and Mococo Abyssgard will play this role (and sometimes all three of them do!).
- Also according to their lore, Justice are this to the larger, offscreen organisation they're part of. They were dispatched to join Hololive in order to monitor the escaped convicts of Advent, but their individual bios note that they're much more focused on their personal interests. In addition, Elizabeth is their official leader but both Gigi and Cecilia are prone to going off and doing their own thing. Cecilia in particular is known to declare that many things she does are "For Justice!"
Western Animation
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Cobra Commander is supposedly the leader of COBRA, but in practice, several episodes show that each of the top officers is pretty much independent, and on a bad day, he has to convince or even outright beg them to obey.
- Destro zigzags this. While he would yell the "COBRA!" battle cry and take a leading role in some missions, as COBRA's main arms supplier, he was sometimes treated as a separate faction. The original opening theme even lampshaded this with the line "It's G.I.Joe against COBRA and Destro, fighting to save the day!" (it would later be "It's G.I.Joe against COBRA, the enemy, fighting to save the day!").
- The Baroness once famously responded to a question of "Whose side are you on?" with "The same as yours: mine!" While she is one of COBRA's most famous agents, she is more than willing to work against COBRA's goals when it suits her.
- Xamot and Tomax head the Crimson Guards, COBRA's Praetorian Guard. Like their historical inspiration, however, they sometimes blackmailed or strong-armed Cobra Commander for concessions or made demands for money.
- The Dreadnoks under Zartan are similarly sometimes depicted as full-time members of COBRA, and other times as hired guns. During the battles for the Weather Dominator, Zartan's theft of a vital component led to both COBRA and G.I.Joe launching full-scale assaults on his hideout, engaging in a three-way battle. When he was cornered by Destro, he quickly feigned loyalty and "offered" the part to COBRA.
- In G.I. Joe: Resolute (implied to be a continuation of A Real American Hero), Cobra Commander makes it brutally clear he will no longer tolerate this from his officers, even killing Major Bludd to make sure Destro et al understand he absolutely would kill them all if they gave him a reason to do so. Ironically enough, in the original cartoon, Major Bludd was never anything more than a competent and loyal Mook Lieutenant.
- The Transformers: A number of episodes imply that several Decepticon special units are pretty much left to their own devices when Megatron doesn't have a direct use for them.
- The Insecticons are nominally part of the Decepticon army, but several episodes make it clear they're basically a separate unit. Megatron actually has to negotiate with them, with both sides expecting a double-cross at some point. In addition, "Quest For Survival" and "Revenge of Bruticus" have them as completely independent threats to Earth's survival.
- When Starscream creates his own special team the Combaticons, Megatron orders the Stunticons to join him and the other Decepticons for their confrontation with the traitor. The Stunticons brush him off, as they're enjoying themselves with a rampage on Earth's roads. They do eventually show up as The Cavalry, combining into Menasor and blindsiding the Combaticons' combined form Bruticus, leading to Starscream's defeat and banishment.
- The Combaticons themselves are later revealed to have their own base separate from the other Decepticons who reside in their underwater HQ, and "B.O.T." has them operating on their own, wandering aimlessly into a city.
Real Life
- Historically, before the advent of radio and other forms of long-distance communication anyone who could not be quickly contacted became one of these, as it was impossible to get orders to them in a timely manner. This included sea captains (hence the tradition that once out at sea, the captain was the ultimate authority aboard a ship), soldiers in the field (where it could be difficult to find a particular unit or officer in the midst of an operation or campaign), or diplomats. This was the basis of someone being granted plenipotentiary powers, essentially allowing them to take fully independent action with the blessing of the state.
- Three Kingdoms – Shu, Wei, Wu:
- As the Han Empire declined, several officials began ruling their assigned territories like personal fiefdoms while still claiming to be acting in the name of the Han court. One example was Liu Yan, who volunteered to become Governor of the distant and backward Yi Province (partially because he recognised that the Han court was becoming a Deadly Decadent Court and he wished to distance himself from it). He quickly took control of Yi Province, and then sent his subordinate Zhang Lu to take over the northern territory of Hanzhong so as to create a buffer zone between the Han Empire and his own territory, thus allowing him to claim that he was unable to respond to imperial orders because they never reached him. Zhang Lu himself is an example, as he was nominally still Liu Yan's subordinate but effectively an independent power in his own right, something Liu Yan had no issues with, as it simply meant he wouldn't be disturbed in Yi. Liu Yan's domain in Yi would eventually become the heartland of Liu Bei's state of Shu.
- As mentioned under Literature above, when Dong Zhuo took over the Han imperial government, many officials began acting as minor warlords even as they continued to claim loyalty to the Han Emperor Xian, including continuing to use Han ranks they'd been granted. When Emperor Xian managed to flee the city of Changan in an attempt to get to the capital of Luoyang, he dispatched messengers calling for aid. Yuan Shao, the most powerful warlord and ostensibly a faithful servant of the Empire, decided not to send forces in response because he feared that if he took the Emperor under his protection, he would be a direct subordinate to the Emperor and lose his independence (which he'd gained a taste for). Instead, he preferred to continue to claim loyalty so he could rule in the Emperor's name. He regretted his decision when Cao Cao instead took the Emperor in, and began issuing orders and granting ranks and titles in the Emperor's name, becoming the power behind the throne.
- Cao Cao responded to the Emperor's call, along with a number of smaller warlords and even bandit groups. Taking Emperor Xian into his care, Cao Cao quickly became The Man in Front of the Man, wielding the Emperor's power while continuing to claim he was merely the Emperor's servant. While he effectively ruled the Empire, Cao was very careful to be extremely proper in his treatment of the Emperor, and would also take into account the Emperor's will in his actions (e.g., during a famine, Emperor Xian instructed him to distribute stockpiled foodstuffs to help the common folk). However, while he would obey some commands (especially those he was planning to do anyway, such as feeding the common folk during the aforementioned famine), he would ignore others if he felt they did not suit his goals. No matter what, he would claim that any good he did was at the command of the Emperor, since the more prestigious the Emperor's name, the more power the Emperor, and thus Cao, had over the people.
- Sun Ce served under Yuan Shu and conquered several southern territories in the latter's name. However, because Yuan had twice gone back on his word about naming Sun a governor, Sun held a grudge. He ruled some of those territories in Yuan's name, but as many officials of the region became loyal to him, he effectively became a warlord in his own right. note Yuan Shu eventually declared himself an Emperor, naming his new state "Zhong", partially because, thanks to Sun Ce's efforts, he was the second most powerful warlord in the land after his kinsman Yuan Shao. In response, Sun Ce rebelled so as not to be considered a traitor to the Han Empire, and in an instant, Yuan Shu lost roughly half his territory. Worse, he also lost not only the brilliant Sun Ce as a general, but also the many talented men who chose to follow Sun over him.
- This trope was the reason for the eventual animosity between Sun Quan and Liu Bei. When Cao Cao began marching south to complete the reunification of the fractured Han Empire, Liu was the landless leader of a band of vagabonds while Sun was the last sole warlord whose power could rival Cao's. When Liu and Sun formed an alliance against Cao, it was partially thanks to the fact that Zhuge Liang, Liu's military advisor, happened to be the younger brother of Sun Quan's trusted officer Zhuge Jin. In addition, while basically vagrants, Liu's forces included a number of battle-tested warriors like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, and his men were known to have a fierce loyalty to him that gave them high morale. Where the waters are muddied is that Sun was under the impression Liu was basically working for him as an auxiliary force, while Liu felt they were proper and equal allies. While there was no time to hash this out with Cao fast approaching, following the victory at Chibi this led to tension between both sides as Sun insisted that Liu surrender some territory to him (arguing that Liu owed him the territories since it was Sun's aid that made it possible to take them while Liu argued that it was his own forces who actually took them), at one point even leading to skirmishes until the situation was calmed down. This bad blood continued to simmer, eventually leading to a more serious break several years down the line.
- Between 221 and 222 CE, Sun Quan was nominally subordinate to the Wei imperial court, with Cao Pi as emperor granting him the title King of Wu. This was an act of pragmatism on the part of Sun Quan, as Liu Bei was determined to attack Wu to avenge Guan Yu (who had died in Wu's reconquest of Jing Province). Acknowledging the authority of the Wei imperial court would secure Wu's northern border and ensure that all the resources of the state could be concentrated against the Shu invasion; Sun Quan possibly even hoped that Wei would lend military aid (which they did not). Cao Pi, meanwhile, was content enough to receive nominal obeisance from Wu for the time being, with the potential that this could be transformed into something more substantive in the future. The Wu supreme commander Lu Xun proceeded to decisively defeat the Shu invasion force at the Battle of Xiaoting in 222 CE. Cao Pi then demanded that Sun Quan send his crown prince Sun Deng to the Wei capital Luoyang as a hostage in order to prove his loyalty as a vassal. With the Shu threat now over, Sun Quan felt confident enough to publicly re-assert his independence, and thus refused. Cao Pi resultantly ordered an invasion of Wu, but this was repelled in 223 CE, sealing the division of China into three wholly independent kingdoms.
- Sengoku Period:
- After the death of Oda Nobunaga, his two subordinates, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, briefly went to war over their lord's domain. However, Tokugawa would submit and become Hideyoshi's vassal. When the Hōjō clan in Kantō was defeated in 1590, Hideyoshi had Tokgukawa moved there with the intent to weaken Tokugawa's powerbase as he would have to rely on the former Hōjō samurai, whose loyalty was questionable. The move would prove to be a great boon for Tokugawa as Kantō's relative isolation allowed him to instead build his powerbase away from Hideyoshi's influence. By the onset of the Imijin War of 1592, Tokugawa was the second most powerful daimyō and would avoid participating in the conflict as he and other eastern daimyō were held in reserve to provide logistical support for the invasion. With much of the western daimyō's strength exhausted after retreating from Korea in 1598 and Hideyoshi dying from illness, it paved the way for Tokugawa to take over the country. An ironic anecdotal proverb of Tokugawa's rise said, "Ieyasu won the Empire by retreating."
- Attempted by Date Masamune when he accepted Hideyoshi's suzerainty, giving up his hard-fought territories in northern Japan to take over the small fishing village of Sendai. He turned Sendai into a prosperous port city, even sending an embassy to the King of Spain and Portugal as well as the Pope (he also subtly hoped to get Spanish aid in building galleon ships, which were more powerful than the local Japanese ships of the time). However, after Ieyasu decisively triumphed at the Battle of Sekigahara, Masamune was forced to give up his dreams of independence and possibly even taking over himself, as Ieyasu's power was simply too great for him to overcome.
- The American Civil War:
- On both sides, so-called "Political Generals" (i.e., those who received rank due to their political connections rather than experience or skill in warfare) were a particular headache. Many of them sought such ranks for personal glory, and so were prone to ignoring instructions or even orders from their superior officers in service of that goal. While some turned out to be competent, even brilliant, in their roles as generals, a number more caused difficulty to their commanders due to being more than happy to leverage their political connections to their advantage.
- General George B McClellan (aka "Little Mac") was viewed early in the war as the potential saviour of the Union. He was noted as an excellent trainer of men, and reorganised the disorganised and demoralised Union army into an expanded fighting force known as the Army of the Potomac. Unfortunately, he allowed his nickname of "Young Napoleon" to get to his head, bluntly ignoring even direct orders from President Abraham Lincoln to take to the field. He had little respect for Lincoln, openly disparaging him and referring to him as an ape or a gorilla note On one occasion, Lincoln visited McClellan's house while he was out, and decided to wait. When McClellan returned, not only did he not bother to go see the President of the United States who'd been waiting for him, he simply went to his room and went to bed, and lamented that if only he had full control, he could surely win the war. Eventually Lincoln removed him from command and spent the next few years trying to find a general who could properly utilise the Army of the Potomac McClellan had created.note His old nickname of "the Young Napoleon" became ironic: while Napoleon was known for his audacity and swiftness, McClellan was prone to move slowly and often exaggerated enemy numbers to excuse his slowness.
- General Leonidas Polk of the Confederate Army was a headache for anyone he served under. Nicknamed "the Fighting Bishop" thanks to him actually being a bishop, while he had an impressive academic record during his education at the military academy at West Point, his ability as a general was mixed (e.g., in an example of The Peter Principle, he was a competent corps commander but had mixed success as an independent commander). One of his superiors, General Braxton Bragg, even complained that Polk had the habit of feeling he knew better than his superior officers and so would execute his own plans, even though this would throw the plans of the army as a whole into disarray. Unfortunately, Polk also happened to be a good friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and so he couldn't be removed (at least for long).
- Hermann Göring was effectively the Number Two of Nazi Germany after Adolf Hitler himself and also designated as his successor in 1941, but while Hitler's seniority over Göring was never in doubt, Göring did pile up so many offices that it convoluted the chain of command elsewhere. Most notably, Göring was commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, a branch of the Wehrmacht that answered to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) chiefed by Wilhelm Keitel. When Göring was a Field Marshal, Keitel was a General. When Keitel became a Field Marshal himself, they invented an even higher military rank of Reich Marshal just to keep Göring higher-ranked than his on-paper "boss".
- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover of the US Navy, also known as the father of the Nuclear Navy. He had a particular vision for the future of nuclear propulsion and an abrasive personality that earned him quite a few enemies within the Navy and outside of it, but also a knack for promoting himself and his ideas to others, particularly to those in Congress. On several occasions, senior Navy officials tried to deny his promotion, end his programs, and even force him into retirement. These attempts were consistently overridden by Congress, and instead, he was able to carve out his own personal fiefdom within the Navy and get a very rare lifetime appointment as the head of Naval Reactors. Any organization within the Navy that wanted to take advantage of nuclear power was thus beholden to him and his policies, even if they were nominally headed by his peers or superiors.
- This was the defining characteristic of China's Warlord Era after the fall of the Qing dynasty. On paper the army and the provincial administrations were subordinate to the government in Beijing, but in practice the country was carved up among feuding cliques of local strongmen who effectively ran their respective territories as independent fiefdoms. Even the "reunited" Republic under the Guomindang was forced to give allied warlords wide latitude to keep them from making power plays to bring the new government down, which nearly happened anyway. It took the Japanese occupying Manchuria and later attempting to Divide and Conquer the whole country to truly bring everyone together under a common banner.