History Main / AProtagonistShallLeadThem

A HeroicArchetype of a character, frequently a ChosenOne who rises out of adversity to unite and lead his people. The people in question also tend to be threatened; by disunity, by the [[BigBad villain]], by being a dying civilization, or other variations on the theme "their hour of greatest need". Through the leadership of the hero, the people see a considerable boost in quality of life and a renewed sense of pride and masses will flock to his banner.

OlderThanFeudalism. May overlap with TheParagon. If the people are pressed by a foreign power, the heroic leader may become part of LaResistance. His story will frequently include an AwesomeMomentOfCrowning. When a secondary hero rather than the protagonist is the leader, it's a SupportingLeader.

* Speaking of scriptures, this trope is also present in Islam: Muhammad (PBUH) was the Amirul Mukminin, the Leader of the Faithful (the Muslims). He led the diverse people of Madinah (Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, pagans, etc) to take back the city of Makkah. After his death, this role is continued by the four Khulafaur Rasyidin (Four God-Guided Caliph). In fact, "Caliph" means successor to Muhammad's leadership. Some Muslims also believe that nearing the end of the world, this trope will come in full effect with the coming of Imam Mahdi (basically, a Messiah).

A HeroicArchetype of a character, frequently a ChosenOne who rises out of adversity to unite and lead his people. The people in question also tend to be threatened; by disunity, by the BigBad, by being a dying civilization, or other variations on the theme "their hour of greatest need". Through the leadership of the hero, the people see a considerable boost in quality of life and a renewed sense of pride and masses will flock to his banner.

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* Ultimately subverted in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}''. Protagonist John Rumford becomes the head of the [[TrueCompanions Christian Marines]] group quite early, and seems bound to become the leader of the entire revolution against the corrupt regime. But the Christian Marines end up amalgamated with the bigger and better-connected [[GoodOldWays Retroculture]] movement, and come under the control of [[TheChessmaster William Kraft]], with Rumford playing the role of a secondary leader.

* ''Reaper's Gale'', the seventh volume of the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', sets out to deconstruct this with the character of Redmask. He walks out of the Wastelands claiming he's the ChosenOne who once was banished but is now back to unite the tribes of the Awl against the invading and oppressive Letherii. He forcibly takes leadership of the tribes and initially it seems like he was right all along. But, eventually, [[spoiler:he badly miscalculates a battle and is slain by his own giant pet lizards.]] Left to their own devices, leaderless and defeated, the Awl never recover and are assimilated into another invading tribe. In the end it turns out that Redmask himself [[spoiler:was not even an Awl, but a Letherii who was kidnapped by the Awl as a boy and then driven out into the Wastelands for some minor transgression.]]

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* Link in the adult half of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' must unite the various races of Hyrule in order to get into Ganondorf's castle. He does so by visiting the temples in each race's land and awakening the powers of the sage of that temple.

* Hazel-rah in WatershipDown.

* Youko of ''TheTwelveKingdoms'' is thrust into this, at first unwillingly. All the emperors of the world are chosen by the kirin and without a ruler the kingdom falls into chaos. Some sucessions are more smooth than others though, and Youko had to be sought out in "our" world by Keiki.

* In Sax Rohmer's ''Film/TheMaskOfFuManchu'' the eponymous YellowPeril villain seeks to pass himself off as the prophesied "Masked Prophet" who will unite all Asiatic peoples (Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, ''etc.'') against the hated white race. This ''may'' have been suggested to Rohmer by the general British understanding of the Islamic idea of the Mahdi, which became widespread in Rohmer's boyhood.

* In Sax Rohmer's ''The Mask of FuManchu'' the eponymous YellowPeril villain seeks to pass himself off as the prophesied "Masked Prophet" who will unite all Asiatic peoples (Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, ''etc.'') against the hated white race. This ''may'' have been suggested to Rohmer by the general British understanding of the Islamic idea of the Mahdi, which became widespread in Rohmer's boyhood.

* ''BrutalLegend'': "To summon a warrior into this world who would lead our armies to BRUTAL VICTORY. It was made for a god, not for you... not for... a ROADIE..." Good thing Eddie Riggs has ThePowerOfRock.

* A main quest in GuildWars in actually named "And a Hero shall lead them". The whole point of the Nightfall campaign (and the other to a lesser extent) is the hero (i.e. the player) leading others to save the day.

* Arren/Lebannen from the [[Literature/EarthseaTrilogy Earthsea]] novel ''The Farthest Shore''

* KingArthur

* Initially, Kenji of ''TwentiethCenturyBoys'' is set up to be this. [[spoiler:It's only in the final arc that it comes to fruition.]]
* Simon in ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. [[spoiler:In the end, though, he seems content WalkingTheEarth with Boota.]]
* Hakuoro in ''{{Utawarerumono}}''.

* Aragorn from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is a counterexample: he's not the protagonist (Frodo is); he's TheAragorn.

* Rhys in the {{Branion}} series is this, touched by the Gods and having been born literally so that he can unite his fractured faith (it's technically under the leadership of people who [[TheHeretic follow a different one]]).

* Link in the adult half of ''TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' must unite the various races of Hyrule in order to get into Ganondorf's castle. He does so by visiting the temples in each race's land and awakening the powers of the sage of that temple.

In a sense, this is a much older interpretation of the MessianicArchetype - you could call this the Destined Leader Archetype. Before Christianity came along and gave us what most westerners understand as the Messiah with love and self-sacrifice, the Jewish people understood Messiah to mean "someone who will come in our time of need and unite the tribes of Israel" (because that's what the Bible [[CaptainObvious said he would be]]). It's not impossible or unheard of for the two to overlap.

* Pres. Laura Roslin from ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]''.

* Aragorn from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''