History Main / AuthorityInNameOnly

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Jaime is officially made the Warden of the East following Jon Arryn's death. This theoretically gives him command over the Vale's armies, which is enough to make Ned Stark worried about what would happen if Jaime also got his father's position as Warden of the West. In practice, since the position's always been given to an Arryn, the Vale lords are suspicious about what role the Lannisters might have played in Jon Arryn's death, and Westeros is going through a civil war, he has absolutely no control over the Vale and the Lannisters are forced to give the position to Robert Arryn to win his mother's official loyalty.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton His Imperial Majesty Norton I, Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico.]] He was essentially little more than a broke former businessman, walking around the streets in an old dress uniform, but his proclamations of royalty were so grandiose that he became something of a local celebrity. By all accounts, he was a rather friendly, if pompous sort, and so people saw little problem with playing along with him, even sending him new clothes when his uniform started to wear out and accepting his "Norton scrip" currency. When one police officer was concerned about his mental health and recommended he be institutionalized, the Chief of Police vouched for Norton, saying, "that he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line".
** Norton did have a certain amount of ''moral'' authority, which he used to attempt to stop anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco. For all that he was a crackpot, he did have some respect from the community.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'', the family's formidable housekeeper Mrs. Wilson finds the second daughter Eloise going through her things. Eloise (an adult by the standards of the time) tries to claim that she has a right to as she is technically Mrs. Wilson's mistress. Mrs. Wilson (an OldRetainer who played a large role in raising her) has none of it and scolds Eloise like a little girl, even addressing her by her first name. Eloise just shamefacedly takes it, knowing she has no actual power over Mrs. Wilson, who answers to Lady Bridgerton.

%% The following Administrivia/{{Zero Context Example}}s have been commented out and copied to Discussion. Please don't add them back unless you also add context to show how they fit this trope.

* Not quite the king, but the Emperor of ''Roleplay/TheTown'' is a nudist lech who does no ruling, and is, currently, completely vanished.
* The King of Town, the former TropeNamer in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner,'' is treated as a rather loopy old relative who isn't going to let go of his delusions. He ''does'' own and live in a castle, but he rarely shows any signs of having any kind of authority. In the "Strong Badia the Free" episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', however, he imposes a retroactive e-mail tax, and no sooner does Strong Bad find out about it than he is put under house arrest for failing to pay it. Strong Bad and several of the other characters get fed up with him and secede from his rule, addressing him as "The Of Town".

* President [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Critic]] of WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}, following the takeover and renaming of Molossia (see RealLife section).

* The Mayor of ''Roleplay/InkCity'' presents himself as an UltimateAuthorityMayor, but is generally viewed by the residents as this. It doesn't help that he tends to keep to himself and not interact with anyone unless they manage to hit one of his {{Berserk Button}}s hard enough. When he lies low during the World Split crisis, he gets called out ''hard'' upon his reappearance.
* OnceAnEpisode with Yahtzee from ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''. In the CreditsGag it will always title him as something different, such as 50,000,000th in line to the throne.
* Donut from ''WebAnimation/DusksDawn'' really isn't a royal guard of Celestia, but claims himself as one.
* The Blog/KnightsOfFandom have one of these as their leader/founder. There is absolutely no real authority involved in her rank, either as Knight-Commander or as Empress (a nickname she was given which started the whole thing); it's all very symbolic, and mostly respected out of affection.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s Professor Farnsworth is a professor, but he only teaches one class, on a subject he made up. Fry's the only one to sign up for it, and the Professor's pretty upset. "I don't know how to ''teach'', I'm a ''professor''!" He does, however, have at least enough authority to serve as a graduate advisor for Amy Wong. At any university with a graduate program, it's more or less TruthInTelevision that some professors ''don't'' teach classes, they do research and/or supervise grad students doing research[[note]]if you have research grants, the university will generally be more than happy to take your salary out of that money and give you a pass on teaching; if you don't, they're going to expect ''something'' in return for paying you, and usually that's teaching classes[[/note]] (they may occasionally teach a class on their particular specialty, and they generally have a ''lot'' of latitude on the subject matter). Several of the writers for ''Futurama'' hold advanced degrees, and they're [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they know]]. The only really startling thing to anyone familiar with graduate schools is that Fry is able to sign up for the class; they're usually closed to undergraduates without special permission from the instructor.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh 3's StalkerWithACrush King Sandy isn't king of anything. In fact, it's very likely that he and his three cousins simply CannotTellFictionFromReality. Saying that he's only a pretend king is [[BerserkButton a good way to cheese him off]], though ("''The '''King''' does '''not''' pretend!!''").

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender,'' the Earth King [[AllthereInTheManual came to power at age four]], so naturally his advisers handled most of the government work. Unfortunately, one of them, [[EvilChancellor Long Feng]], manipulated events so that the Earth King remained ignorant and powerless even after he reached adulthood. He eventually reasserts his influence, [[spoiler:only for his capital to be quickly conquered by Azula]].

* In the season four finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Twilight Sparkle]] feels this way, being a princess with no actual royal duties. By the end of the finale, she gains her important duties.

* King from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is the self-proclaimed "King of Demons", a dubious claim as he is high-strung, childish, and very short in stature. No other demons seem to respect his authority, and he has none of the powers one would expect. [[spoiler:As of Season 2, it's heavily suggested that he may indeed be the offspring of a very powerful demon, but their reign seems to have been so long ago that even historians no longer remember it. "Edge of the World" reveals that he's a baby Titan (gigantic creatures whose corpses [[GiantCorpseWorld form the landmasses where demons and witches live]]), and is most likely the LastOfHisKind.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'': Gaspar claims to be ruler of the jungle, but other than a bunch of thuggish monkeys who enforce his demands no one really takes him seriously most of the time. Brandy herself brings this up in a few episodes, which really frustrates Gaspar (especially since he can't refute her).
* The Princess Ponies of the original ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'' don't actually rule Ponyland, they just possess wands that keep the land's magic in balance.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign, this is sometimes the case with whoever claims or thinks he rules a domain. (Or both.) Not all the darklords rule their domains openly (although some do) and some are unseen or even unknown by the common folk, but they are, without exception, the true rulers. Examples of realms that are like this include Lamordia (the apparent ruler is Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker, but even he doesn't know that Mordenkainen's monster Adam is the true ruler) and Dementlieu (believed to be ruled by Lord-Governor Marcel Guignol, who is actually a puppet of the darklord, the master hypnotist Dominic d'Honaire).
* Overlord Mishima of ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles'' is nominally the undisputed ruler of the Mishima corporation, and as such one of the six most powerful people in existence. In reality, he's been KickedUpstairs to being Mishima's representative in The Cartel, and even there doesn't actually have any power to negotiate since his immediate subordinates, the Lord Heirs, will ignore any deal he makes they don't like. The only people who actually obey him are his ten-thousand or so personal retainers.

* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', there's [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Brron,_Mad_King_of_Dark_World Brron, Mad King of Dark World]], who is supposedly, as his name suggests, the ruler of the Dark World Fiends, and he is portrayed as such in the anime. However, as the ''Master Guide 2'' claims, Brron is actually subordinate to Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, who in turn report to Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World. And even ''he'' likely answers to Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World. To make this even more complicated, the anime version of Brron suggested that the ultimate ruler of Dark World was someone called "Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World". Basically, Dark World's government is kinda screwed up.

* The king of Meridiana in Mirham in ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'' is openly controlled by the nobles of the city of Al'Anfa and reduced to signing their decisions. For centuries, the kings did their best to distract themselves from the fact through a life of luxury and drugs. The only reason, the charade is upheld at all, is because many ancient privileges of the state are based on the structure of the monarchy.

* Mayor Pirkle of ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' fame not only lets a kid handle the problem of the Sharks, but also hands Ness the key to the shack on the condition that Ness not hold him responsible for anything that happens there.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** King Dedede claims to be the ruler of Dream Land, but the most it gets him is a castle for our pink protagonist to [[StormingTheCastle storm through]] once per game. He seems to have vast independent wealth, but that's about it. Later games imply a BecomingTheMask element to his royalty -- ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' states that he wishes to [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething save his people]] and [[ClearMyName clean up his image]]. Reflecting this, his title has gone from a "self-proclaimed king" to a "self-''made'' king."
** The [[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa anime]] [[TheAnimeOfTheGame version]] makes more of a show of it; he even has a Prime Minister (Cabinet Minister) and the dubious loyalty of Meta Knight, but his rule seems to be even more dubious. In one early episode, he actually plants archaeological evidence that his ancestors were royalty. Meanwhile, the ''actual'' Mayor seems to be the legitimate authority figure, while the Prime Minister doesn't seem to ever do anything beyond being the father of the KidWithTheLeash.
* Mayor Bo in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' is among the more competent examples of the trope. On the other hand, in a village populated by eight adults, two teenagers, and five kids, it's hard to imagine there's a lot of competency required.
* Mayor Dotour in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' mostly just sits around saying "uhm...well" while the Captain of the Guard and the lead carpenter argue the issue of whether they should evacuate. Though he ''does'' resolve the issue if Link wears the Couple's Mask to the meeting... by saying "Screw it, the world's ending, do what you want." It is heavily implied that his wife, Madame Aroma, is considered a bigger authority than [[HenpeckedHusband Dotour himself]], to the point that if the issue isn't solved before the third day, Chief Carpenter Mutoh convinces Dotour to not cancel the carnival by threatening to get Madame Aroma involved.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
** Palmer. As a Shinra corporation executive, he has a massive salary and an impressive title. However, his department, Space Exploration, hasn't received any funding in years and fired all of its employees. He doesn't actually have to do anything except show up for the occasional board meeting and tag along with the President whenever he goes to Rocket Town, the site of the failed launch of the Shinra No. 26 rocket and the place where all the ex-employees of the Space Exploration department live.
** Played more literally with Mayor Domino of Midgar, who has no actual power to speak of since Shinra runs everything. Mostly he hangs around the Shinra building being useless. He actually ends up helping AVALANCHE during their raid on the building just because he's bored. In the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake Remake]], he's still powerless but also grew into a revenge-obssessed, unhinged lunatic possessing an undying hatred of Shinra for stripping out of his authority and reducing him into a glorified paper pusher. He's actually AVALANCHE's "man on the inside", helping Cloud and Co. as long as it hurts Shinra.

* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}''[='=]s Overlords rule over realms of afterlife called Netherworlds...traditionally. ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' features two characters who have the title of Overlord despite not ruling over any actual territory. One is Goldion, the Great Demon Fist, whose mastery of the Ultimate Demon Technique -- a martial art focused around cleansing the evil from others' hearts -- led him to become the Overlord of the "Netherworld in his heart", but nonetheless he's treated with great respect and fear by other demons much like other Overlords are. The other is [[spoiler:Zeroken, one of his two pupils; he learns the Ultimate Demon Technique (albeit from fellow pupil Killia rather than Goldion) and achieves the same status during his CharacterFocus arc. Killia masters the Ultimate Demon Technique as well, but he averts this trope due to already being the Overlord of a tangible Netherworld himself.]]
** [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Laharl]] actually ''is'' a legitimate Overlord...but a significant chunk of the plot for ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'' is based on the inconvenient detail that none of his ostensible subjects actually ''care''. All he actually seems to get out of holding the title is access to the castle; nobody actually does what he tells them and several of the nobles are in open revolt. A big part of his story is about him learning that in order to get the actual ''authority'' of an Overlord, he has to actually live up to the role and not just stomp around waving the title like a battle flag and erecting statues to himself.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' lets you play as one in a couple situations. Upon entering the settlement of Big Town, you're confronted by a guard, who obviously has no idea what he's doing, who asks who you are. One option is to tell him "I'm the king/queen of the wasteland, what's it to you?" Later you can talk to him again, demanding a new greeting speech that acknowledges your title as royalty.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', being named General of the Minutemen is effectively this- none of the other Minutemen in the game ever acknowledge your position, they mostly just snark at you or send you off to go kill some ghouls on the far side of the map.
* Tortimer in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' doesn't seem to do much besides hand out goodies at special events. In ''New Leaf'', ''you'' become the mayor of your new home-town, and can either play this straight by goofing around or avert it by approving ([[MoneySink and donating to]]) the construction of new decorations and new buildings.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** Nisha in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' has no legitimate claim to the title of Sheriff of Lynchwood, having just showed up one day and taken the whole place over. Deputy Winger (who doesn't know Nisha's real name and may not have even been a cop before she deputized him) thinks it's best that everyone just do what she says, because she has a ton of enforcers and is always looking for an excuse to hang somebody. It also helps that she's the girlfriend of [[BigBad Handsome Jack]], the most powerful figure on Pandora and thus has the backing of the Hyperion corporation and a dangerous gunfighter in her own right, being a former Vault Hunter.
** While Mister Torgue might have started off as the founder and head of Torgue Corporation, by the "Wattle Gobbler" DLC he's simply a spokesperson after having sold his shares for $12 and a high-five.
* From the early days of ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', there's [[CloudCuckoolander Kotohime]]. She's listed as a princess in her profile and {{Leitmotif}}, but in her ending she claims to be a policewoman ''disguised'' as a princess, and generally weirds out or confuses everyone she meets. The implication is that she's a ShelteredAristocrat who isn't supposed to be running around, and the most we can say for sure is that she owns a police officer's uniform.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Gunther Arcanus is an undead necromancer who is so admired - and feared - by the other Forsaken that they credit him as a Lich (which is a title in the game) even though he isn't one. Of course, Gunther may well deserve such nomenclature, seeing as he was able to break free of the Lich King's control via nothing but his own willpower. Complete the quest where you convince him to join the other Forsaken and he may well become their ''actual'' leader, given how he says he plans to teach them necromancy. (Indeed, if Necromancer ever becomes an actual class, he'd likely be a central NPC for it.)
* Axe, of ''VideoGame/Dota2'', crosses this with MayorOfAGhostTown when, after a particularly bloody campaign, he declares himself general of an army of which he is the only surviving member.
* ''VideoGame/WestOfLoathing'' features Emperor Norton, loosely based on the historical figure. This version is a full-on villain, albeit a mostly-ineffective one.

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': Prince Sebastian [=LaCroix=] was set up to be the ruler of Los Angeles, but at the time of the game the Camarilla has not had a presence on the Western seaboard in over 60 years, and the resources he was given were woefully inadequate. His realm is under constant attack from the Sabbat in the south and the Kuei-Jin shipping in from the Far East by the boatload, and possibly also a werewolf pack. Most vampires in LA (who were there long before he breezed into town) refuse to pay him even lip service and are surreptitiously gearing up for a turf war, and the ones that do are more or less openly plotting against him. The only thing that stops his reign from being a complete punchline is that he somehow has managed to gain the loyalty of an ancient African vampire that serves as his enforcer.
* In ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' after usurping the role of the ruling crimelord of [[WretchedHive Omega]], [[TheQueenpin Aria T'loak]] chose to keep her predecessor alive as an "advisor" with little to no actual power seemingly as an act of CruelMercy. She even gave him the new title of "The Patriarch", which coming from a member of [[OneGenderRace the all-female Asari]] is itself representative of his current position: [[StealthInsult important-sounding but completely meaningless]]. Shepard can either choose to kill some assassins for The Patriarch to give him some level of actual authority or convince him to face the assassins himself for the sake of an honorable death.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1294098797089350600
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* At the beginning of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Jack Atlas was known as the King of the Riding Duels. He didn't know that his title meant nothing. He was a puppet being manipulated by [[BigBad Rex Godwin]] to entertain the people of Neo Domino and maintain the illusion of a utopia, and a lot of his victories, like the one against Dragan, were rigged without him knowing. Bommer even called him out on this during the Fortune Cup, calling him a "poor king" (and when Jack tried to hit him for the insult, knocked the punch aside as if he didn't care). (In Jack's defense, after Godwin's fall, he would later prove during the WRGP that he was capable of defeating Dragan in a fair duel when the two faced each other again. Although, to be honest, this was after Jack had acquired Burning Soul, an ability he didn't have the first time.)
* In ''Manga/TheWorldIsStillBeautiful'', Nike's father is the duke of the Rain Dukedom but doesn't actually hold any power, and even admits as such to Livius. Instead, the power is held by Nike's grandmother.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The Soul Society eventually dubs Ichigo Kurosaki a Substitute Shinigami and gives him a badge. Later, when Ichigo runs into the Shinigami Zennosuke Kurumadani, he realizes his title is useless when Zennosuke doesn't recognize his badge or title.

* [[StalkerWithACrush Kondou]] [[AFatherToHisMen Isao]] is [[AuthorityInNameOnly the figurehead]] of UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''. His NumberTwo, the [[RedBaron “Oni no Fukuchō”/Demon Vice-Chief]] [[SmokingIsCool Hijikata]] [[TheDreaded Toshirō]], does all the managerial work and makes most decisions in the organization with [[BadBoss an iron fist]].
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': PlayedWith in regards to Akito Sohma. As head of the Sohma family and God of the Zodiac, she does have the genuine loyalty of the maids, but it's made clear that the other Zodiac members only stay with Akito and follow her orders because their [[HereditaryCurse curse]] ''forces'' them to. The point is proven when Momiji is freed from the curse; [[spoiler:unlike Kureno, who ultimately couldn't bring himself to abandon Akito even after his curse broke,]] Momiji doesn't hesitate to rebuff Akito's [[PleaseDontLeaveMe pleas]] and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leave her]], calling her weak and pitiful while wondering why he ever let her dominate his life in the first place.
* ''Anime/AnimalCrossingTheMovie'': Tortimer, in a sense. He's a huge egotist and constantly worries about the results of the upcoming election (of which he's the only candidate), but he doesn't actually perform any mayoral duties. In fact, it's revealed at the end of the film that the election had only one ballot; Tortimer, who voted for himself.
* ''Anime/AmagiBrilliantPark'': On paper, Princess Latifa the manager of the park. She doesn't do the actual work because she's just a little girl and refers to Seiya as though he were the actual manager instead of just her assistant. Also justified by her poor health, though she does like to do a lot of cooking in the meantime.

* Inverted with Reed Richards of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', who legitimately holds doctorates in several fields, does not use the title in his heroic name, choosing to be called "Mr. Fantastic".

* ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' aren't police officers at all, being little more than vigilantes. (Sam does have some skills that would be useful in actual detective work, but he doesn't always use them right.)

* In ''ComicBook/TheFlintstones'', the people of Bedrock finally get fed up with their mayor Clod the Destroyer's {{Warhawk}} tendencies and mismanagement of funds, but they don't have a way to remove him from office. So Wilma and Clod's secretary work together to trick Clod into spending all his time in a fake office with no connection to the outside, while actually competent people run the town.
* It's revealed in the backstory to Creator/IDWPublishing's [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries Transformers comics]] that the title of "Prime" has lost its political significance by the time of Sentinel Prime. While the Prime still has a religious function as the bearer of the life-giving Matrix of Leadership, the real power is held by the corrupt Senate. Political power is ironically restored to the title of Prime thanks to the Decepticons, as Zeta Prime succeeds Sentinel following his defeat and death at the hands of Megatron and organises the Autobots into an actual army to fight them.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''Fanfic/AllAssortedAnimorphsAUs'': In “What if Ax joined the team in the first book?”, Ax is ‘officially’ promoted to Prince by Elfangor just before his death, but quickly realises that he doesn’t have the training or personality to be a proper leader. As a result, Jake becomes the leader as in canon, but Ax retains his title as ‘Prince Aximili’ and acts as the leader when talking with other Andalites until the war ends.
* ''Fanfic/BequeathedFromPaleEstates'': [[spoiler:Theon Greyjoy has been Lord of the Iron Islands since at least the end of ThePlague, but everyone in Westeros, including him, was completely unaware of it, because no one thought to check the region over after the Islands ceased all communication with the rest of the continent. This is partly because Theon's title is effectively meaningless -- the Plague took out one third of the population (including Balon and Asha Greyjoy), inciting the smallfolk and thralls into revolt. All that's left is a group of small warring states, who are more likely to kill Theon than accede to his claim on the Seastone Chair.]]

* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12045706/1/Dark-Days Dark Days]]": After the Volturi are devastated by an attack by an insane vampire infected with a variation of the Shanti virus, when Aro attempts to order that Peter be changed or killed when the Cullens come to help, Emmett bluntly points out that the Volturi don’t have the authority to enforce their laws any more considering that they’re down to about seven members, five of whom were cowering in a chamber and another two hidden in a tower after the rest were either killed by the infected vampires or fled the castle in fear.

%%* ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman'': Nav dismisses Cadance as this, but she eventually turns into a competent leader.%%Dismisses her as what?

* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13919242/1/Gift-to-the-Devil Gift to the Devil]]": God sends Chloe and Trixie to Hell so that Chloe can be with Lucifer when he didn't return to Earth as God had predicted, God simultaneously [[ClaimedByTheSupernatural "marking" Chloe and Trixie as Lucifer's bride and heir]] respectively. While demons treat Chloe and Trixie as the Queen and Princess of Hell, Lucifer notes that the demons would still defer to him over Chloe even if they would obey her orders, and he doubts she would be able to take charge on her own if something happened to Lucifer as only a celestial can truly rule Hell.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561111 Morningstar Family Values]]": Discussed, although not explicitly stated. Maze in particular refers to Sabrina, who is Lucifer's daughter, as "Princess", and Sabrina and other parties have referred to her as the Antichrist in various contexts, either joking or with genuine fear, but Lucifer has made it clear that he has no intention of causing a full-on Apocalypse and Sabrina's status as his heir to the throne of Hell is basically academic given his current "retirement".

* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10080793/1/Unexpected Unexpected]]" diverges from [[Series/TwoBrokeGirls canon]] when Max and Caroline meet before Martin Channing's arrest and Caroline is able to start the cupcake business straight away. Since Caroline signed over the bakery and all relevant details to Max from the start, Max retains the bakery even after Martin is arrested, but immediately invites Caroline to stay with her even when she assumed she'd be losing everything. After a few months of living with Caroline, Max reflects that she is essentially this trope as far as the bakery is concerned, as Caroline is the one dealing with bills, advertising, and "literally everything else their bakery needs aside from the food", and Max just has her name on the building and makes the cakes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'' has Lord Portley-Rind and his fellow White Hats. They appear to be the ruling body of Cheesebridge but are obsessed with cheese and their hats to the point that they neglect their duties to the city... and in Lord Portley-Rind's case at least, [[ParentalNeglect their families]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ArthurChristmas'', the current Santa Claus, Malcolm, only gets to deliver presents while his son Steve and his elves do most of the hard work. {{Lampshaded}} in the movie where he's called a figurehead.
* The tiny King of Hearts from ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' seems to try to enforce some authority, but he's never taken seriously and he always has to remind the White Rabbit to announce him, despite nobody cheering for him. Of course, all the power resides with his wife, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Queen of Hearts]].

* In Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/WhatsUpTigerLily'', there's this exchange.
-->'''High Macha Of Rashpur:''' Good afternoon. I am the Grand Exalted High Macha of Raspur, a nonexistent but real-sounding country.\\
'''Phil Moscowitz:''' Uh-huh.\\
'''High Macha Of Rashpur:''' Yes. We're on a waiting list. As soon as there's an opening on the map, we're next.

'''Kennedy''': (''slams hand on desk'') ''I'' have the authority! I am the commander-in-chief of the United States, and I say when we go to war!

* In ''Film/{{Kenau}}'', the women of Haarlem make their own (highly successful) plans to protect Haarlem, without approval from the city council. The previously most timid of them, makes clear exactly what she thinks of the council's authority.
* ''Film/LicenceToKill'' shows that Franz Sanchez is the true dictator of Isthmus, and the guy who has the title of "El Presidente" is just a figurehead. Lampshaded when Sanchez reminds him, "[[ImpliedDeathThreat You're only president for life]]".
* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', Hoover is the chapter president of Delta. However, it's the more charismatic Otter that everyone actually follows.
* In ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding 3'', when the Portokalos family return to Gus's old village, their initial guide Victory is revealed to be essentially the mayor of the town. However, it's then explained that Victory basically voted for themselves in an election with only one voter, so the other villagers just go with it because there are so few of them left and none of them can be bothered taking the job themselves.
* In ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'', as in real life, Georgi Malenkov. As the Deputy General-Secretary, he is technically second in command of the Soviet Union and next in line after Stalin. In actuality, Stalin only gave him that position because he's too weak willed and ineffectual to actually lead, and therefore wouldn't be a threat to Stalin's power; when Stalin dies, Malenkov quickly becomes a PuppetKing to the other members of the Presidium, who jockey with each other to get him on their side so that they can give their respective factions in the power plays legitimacy.
* In ''Film/KnivesOut'', this is a source of contention for Walt Thrombey as he and his family are very aware that his role as head of the publishing company means pretty much nothing. Walt's duties are primarily being a glorified middle man between his father Harlan and the bookstores and any attempt Walt makes to take the initiative are quashed by Harlan.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': Arthur Pendragon gained the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake and declares he is King of the Britons, but nobody except for his knights takes him seriously. One peasant even points out just because he got a fancy sword doesn't mean they have any obligation to follow him.

* ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'': The ruler of Wekti is the ''Natus'', meaning 'father', who has no authority whatsoever but believes himself to be the complete ruler of Wekti. The real ruler is Exarch Yeudon, the leader of the Church.
* Creator/DavidEddings

* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Zaphod Beeblebrox is the former President of the Imperial Galactic Government. The position's purpose is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] in ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn''. The Chairman of the Legislature of Aurora is officially the head of the state. He was intended to have purely ceremonial power, and is even supposed have a vote only in case of a tie. However, the Aurorans' dislike for political conflict eventually gave the post a lot of real power - as a mediator in case of political disputes.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', King Ailron of Amadicia holds no power whatsoever. Pedron Niall, commander of the Children of the Light, is the true ruler of Amadicia.
* Part of the overall plot in ''[[Franchise/{{Dune}} Sisterhood of Dune]]'' and ''Mentats of Dune'' is the relatively weak Emperor Salvador Corrino. It's mentioned several times that his father Jules Corrino would never have allowed the likes of Manford Torondo (the leader of the fanatical Butlerians) and Josef Venport (the CEO of what would eventually become the Spacing Guild) to hold so much power in the Imperium and even dictate terms to the Emperor. Meanwhile, Salvador's brother Roderick is much more competent but is also fiercely loyal to his brother, even stopping a Sisterhood conspiracy that would leave him in power over his inept brother. While it's true that both Manford and Josef hold enormous power (Manford through his ability to incite mob violence, and Josef through having a monopoly on spice mining and a nigh-monopoly on foldspace shipping), it's also made clear that part of that lies with Salvador's previous policies that turned the Imperial military into a shadow of its former self by assigning command posts based on political motives rather than by merit. Roderick understands this, but Salvador is insistent on playing politics.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

** Downplayed with the Archchancellor of Unseen University, who is definitely in charge of the college (once the squabbling has died down), but whose claim to be the leader of ''all'' wizards is a bit more iffy, given that many wizards from outside the Ankh-Morpork area have never even heard of him, and would be unlikely to be led if they had. It's a plot point in ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', and even more so in ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', that Ridcully believes he should have the authority to stop other {{Wizarding School}}s calling their top man "Archchancellor", or at least insisting on a small "a".

* Actually subverted in ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind''. The Commonwealth of Tyre is a constitutional monarchy and therefore King Hadrian, while commander-in-chief of the military, has much less legal power than Parliament... ''in peacetime''. In wartime, however, Commonwealth law grants him absolute power, rather like the classical Greek "tyrant". This provision of the War Powers Act has never actually been activated before (because the Commonwealth has never had to declare war before), and Hadrian fully expects it to be amended after the war is over.

* A balance of this is struck in the Empire of Azir in ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}''. Lift is in Tashikk, and when the local government gets word from the Emperor to follow her instructions they do so, even when her orders include referring to her as "[[BigEater Your Pancakefullness]]". Right up until a massive storm unexpectedly rolls in and they ignore Lift to deal with the disaster. It seems that for the most part the local government will follow the Emperor's orders as long as said orders aren't interfering with something more immediately important.
* ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'': It's common knowledge that the [[TheEmpire Sanze Empire]] is ruled by the capital city's Leader caste and that the emperor is a figurehead -- almost literally, since the imperial quarters are in a gaudy amber sphere atop the capitol building. Several characters refer to the ancient days of the Empire, when the Emperor had real power.
* In ''Literature/IOwnTheRacecourse'' by Patricia Wrightson, Andy is conned into believing he has bought the local racecourse. While his friends try to work out how to break this to him, the employees at the course take pity on him and humour him; pretending that he is their boss.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': In the [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Probe" by the 23rd century the Emperor of the Romulan Star Empire was a powerless figurehead. His legate also possessed no actual power despite being the official second in command of the Empire. The actual power rested with the Praetor and the Senate.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': The reference work ''Dark Empire Sourcebook'' introduces the character Ederlathh Pallopides, who supposedly is a great-niece of Palpatine. Imperial Admiral Betl Oxtroe reaches out to the New Republic with a proposal to turn the Galactic Empire into a constitutional monarchy with Pallopides as a figurehead Emperss. The plan goes nowhere as Oxtroe is assassinated not long after making the proposal.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Jaime is officially made the Warden of the East following Jon Arryn's death. This theoretically gives him command over the Vale's armies, which is enough to make Ned Stark worried about what would happen if Jaime also got his father's position as Warden of the West. In practice, since the position's always been given to an Arryn, the Vale lords are suspicious about what role the Lannisters might have played in Jon Arryn's death, and Westeros is going through a civil war, he has absolutely no control over the Vale and the Lannisters are forced to give the position to Robert Arryn to win his mother's official loyalty.
* ''Literature/TheCinderSpires'': Spirearch Jeremiah Addison is, in theory, the absolute ruler of Spire Albion. In practice, power has devolved to various ministers and bureaucrats, leaving the Spirearch as a slightly useless figurehead. That's the official line. In reality, the Spirearch is a shadow government onto himself, subtly manipulating the politics of Spire Albion from behind the scenes as TheManBehindTheMan, in spite of also being TheMan.

-->"[[BlatantLies Let's get something straight. Nucky Thompson does not run this city!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQKhjn0HF8 I do!]]"\\
''[beat; all of the assembled reporters immediately burst into laughter]''
-->'''Reporter:''' Yeah right!

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'', the family's formidable housekeeper Mrs. Wilson finds the second daughter Eloise going through her things. Eloise (an adult by the standards of the time) tries to claim that she has a right to as she is technically Mrs. Wilson's mistress. Mrs. Wilson (an OldRetainer who played a large role in raising her) has none of it and scolds Eloise like a little girl, even addressing her by her first name. Eloise just shamefacedly takes it, knowing she has no actual power over Mrs. Wilson, who answers to Lady Bridgerton.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. Dwight Schrute may well be the only middle-management example of the trope. Although he's very proud of his title, "Assistant [[InsistentTerminology to the]] Regional Manager," his supposed authority is wielded over people who barely respect him enough to acknowledge that he's the same species they are. In one episode Michael admits that it isn't even a real position, he just made it up one day to keep Dwight quiet; Dwight takes this very hard. In a later season, Dwight purchases the building that the branch operates out of, which does give him the ability to control things like temperature, lighting, and the ply of the toilet paper, but this doesn't really give him any actual power (other than a higher-than-average degree of job security, of course).
* This trope is played straight at the beginning of the second season of ''Series/DanForMayor''. Dan got elected to be mayor of Wessex on a fluke and everyone in the city government is trying their hardest to make sure that he has no real authority. When he figures this out, he tries to become relevant and hilarity ensues.
* King Uther in the first few episodes of the fourth season of ''{{Series/Merlin|2008}}'' is still king in name, but Arthur and to a lesser extent, Agravaine as TheMole, are calling the shots since Uther is broken and half mad.
* Andy on ''Series/CougarTown'' is elected mayor, which is mostly a ceremonial position. His duties consist of attending a meeting every six months and be present at ribbon cutting ceremonies - the first of which is for a bicycle rack, and no one attends.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' Arnold Rimmer is the highest ranking crewmember remaining on the ship after the accident, despite [[VirtualGhost being dead]]. Lister doesn't take him particularly seriously and didn't even when the ship still had a crew to speak of -- though he did try and qualify as ship's cook so he'd outrank Rimmer on paper, mostly just to piss him off -- and the others aren't in the chain of command anyway. [[Literature/RedDwarf The books]] make a point of establishing that nobody else took Rimmer's alleged authority all that seriously either; he was a glorified janitor with delusions of grandeur and more ambition than competence.
* One multi-part story of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' ended with Master Vile forming an army of monsters - all of them previously appearing as [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] led by someone named Professor Longnose; kind of hard to believe he was any sort of academic type. (Of course, maybe this was a case where the title was simply ''inappropriate''. Since he led an army, "General" might have been better.)
* In ''Series/FraggleRock'', the Gorgs (fat, furry, ogre-like creatures who stand about fifteen feet tall) claim they are the King and Queen of the Universe. (Well, the husband and wife do; Junior never says anything like this, although his parents do claim he's their heir.) In reality, they seem to be nothing more than a family of simple farmers with a rustic house and garden patch.
* All local government in Series/{{Deadwood}}, except possibly the Sheriff, seem to be this. Most notable is Mayor E.B. Farnum, who called dibs on the title during a meeting and nobody objected.
* Jennifer Evans, one of the winners from the third ''Series/MyKitchenRules'', is labelled as "Princess" in the show, but in no way does she actually hold any position of power and authority. [[note]]"Princess" in Australian slang is a way of calling someone high-maintenance or a primmadonna.[[/note]]

* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': In the first season, Rip Hunter recruits a team of misfits in an attempt to defeat Vandal Savage, stop a BadFuture, and save Rip's family. While the team agrees with his goals, they also spend most of their time ignoring him and doing whatever they think is best. The only exception is Gideon, the ship's AI, who is hard-coded to obey him. After Rip disappears early in season 2, Sarah steps up as captain, and does a much better job corralling the team than Rip ever did, something he himself acknowledges when he returns later in the season, eventually stepping down as captain to let her take over officially.
* Both the Mayor, "Fitzy" Fitzgerald, and the police officers, Davis and Karen, qualify for this in ''Series/CornerGas''. Davis at one point comments that practically everyone in town has at least one unpaid parking ticket and that's it's "no big deal"; by the time of TheMovie, they don't even bother to issue tickets anymore.
* ''Series/LazyTown'': Milford rarely does any actual mayor-ing, and when he does, Robbie is quick to exploit it in some manner.

* In Music/HelloProject, the Leaders and especially Sub-Leaders of groups sometimes act as peacekeepers if there's a falling out between members of their group and on game show appearances they may pick who competes if appropriate.

* Wrestling/JeffJarrett as "The King Of Mexico" in Wrestling/{{AAA}}[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Oliver Munsee, Vice Principal of Mrs. Nestor's Private Elementary School. He's the brother of Winona Nestor and (later) [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of Ruth Nestor]]. He has no authority, and, by his own admission, is the "most useless vice principal in the country".

* Subverted with Hades Izanami in ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant''. As the end of the Great War saw the powers of the kingdom's ruler divided by the council, she should be this and only a figurehead for Mistral. In actuality, it's made clear she has far more control of her kingdom than anyone realizes.
* Vegeta in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' keeps calling himself "the prince of all saiyans". But as Bulma points out at one point, it doesn't mean much when there are only ''two'' Saiyans left in the entire universe.
* Nav dismisses Cadance as this in ''FanFic/DiariesOfAMadman'', but she eventually turns into a competent leader.
* As Emperor Lelouch’s personal Royal Guard and knight, Suzaku in ''FanFic/MyMirrorSwordAndShield'' is second to the Emperor in authority. In practice Suzaku has no power whatsoever as everyone that’s not Lelouch, his sisters, Jeremiah and his [[KidFromTheFuture future parents]] hate him for being Japanese and don’t listen to him. Suzaku’s not even sure that he gets paid.
* The Elements of Harmony fall under this trope in the first season of FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse, since the exact nature of their position in the Night Court hierarchy is never defined. This is fixed at the end of the season finale, when Princess Luna officially decrees that the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony (both current and any future) will hereafter hold the rank of Knights of the Realm, with all powers and privileges appertaining thereunto. In addition, they also get the Right Of Approach, which means that if they want to talk to the Princess, ''only'' the Princess can turn them away. Her secretaries, her staff, her Night Guards, they have to let them see her.
* In ''Fanfic/ASparkOfIceAndFire'', Agatha Heterodyne taunts Queen Cersei because while Agatha's become a national hero through hard work, Cersei doesn't actually do anything other than sit and look pretty.
* ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'' sees this applying to Bo (''Series/LostGirl'') and/or Uther Pendragon (''Series/Merlin2008'') depending on the perspective of others. While Uther is the official king of Camelot, from the perspective of the fae Bo has claimed Camelot as her territory as the first fae to actually take up residence in the kingdom. In reality, Bo has no interest in actually ruling Camelot, but she will defend it from any fae who attempts to attack the kingdom directly. When dealing with fae visitors of uncertain agenda, Bo claims that she 'lets' Uther think he's still in charge so that he can deal with the administrative side of ruling Camelot while she retains her own position.
* ''Fanfic/LostInTheWoods'' features the ''Enterprise''-D (''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'') sent into a parallel universe by Q, where their only choice for local knowledge is to make contact with the passing ''Serenity'' (''Series/{{Firefly}}''). As part of Mal Reynolds' initial contact with ''Enterprise'', he requests that Inara act as the ship's ambassador, to the extent that Mal introduces her to Captain Picard as such. While Inara quickly clarifies that she's only the ambassador for ''Serenity'' rather than for the Alliance as a whole, she is able to spend her time on the ''Enterprise'' living up to the title by mingling with the various alien races on the ship, and greatly enjoys the experience.
* Discussed, although not explicitly stated, in the ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}''/''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'' crossover "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561111 Morningstar Family Values]]", where Sabrina is Lucifer's daughter. Maze in particular refers to Sabrina as 'Princess', and Sabrina and other parties have referred to her as the Antichrist in various contexts, either joking or with genuine fear, but Lucifer has made it clear that he has no intention of causing a full-on Apocalypse and Sabrina's status as his heir to the throne of Hell is basically academic given his current 'retirement'.

* Two different versions of this feature in ''Fanfic/TheConfectionaryChronicles'';
** It is revealed that Slytherin students tend to have such low respect for Dumbledore and other teachers that the Slytherin prefects don't hold much "power" in their own house, with each year choosing a particular student as its respective "leader".

** On top of the aforementioned, this initially applies to Hermione, considering that she is a priestess of Loki but just performs the rituals for herself alone, until [[spoiler:Fleur asks to join her in a ritual, essentially expanding Hermione’s ‘flock’]].
* In ''Fanfic/ContactAtKobol'', President Adar of the Twelve Colonies finds his authority being undercut by religious extremists and anti-Tau'ri factions in the Quorum so often that any effort he makes to de-escalate the war with Earth is doomed before it gets off the ground.
* The ''Series/Lucifer2016'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13919242/1/Gift-to-the-Devil Gift to the Devil]]" sees God send Chloe and Trixie to Hell so that Chloe can be with Lucifer when he didn't return to Earth as God had predicted, God simultaneously [[ClaimedByTheSupernatural "marking" Chloe and Trixie as Lucifer's bride and heir]] respectively. While demons treat Chloe and Trixie as the Queen and Princess of Hell, Lucifer notes that the demons would still defer to him over Chloe even if they would obey her orders, and he doubts she would be able to take charge on her own if something happened to Lucifer as only a celestial can truly rule Hell.
* In ''Fanfic/WhatYouAlreadyKnow: Resolutions'', after Sam Carter is promoted to the leader of SG-1 following Jack O'Neill taking command of the SGC, she observes that she arguably isn't the 'leader' of the now three-man SG-1, as Daniel and Teal'c are technically civilians who aren't obligated to follow her orders. That said, she explains to General O'Neill that she feels the new team dynamic will work by allowing her, Daniel and Teal'c to decide who gives the orders in the field depending on whose expertise will be most relevant in the current situation.

** Robert Baratheon. While he's still the ''official'' king of Westeros, only the Crownlands and the Stormlands still respect his authority after the Remembering. Everyone else has pledged themselves to House Targaryen, more specifically Jon, making him both the rightful and ''actual'' king. The only holdout is Dorne, who's not inclined to side with either side thanks to Elia Martell, and is currently too embroiled in their own internal CivilWar to be anyone's concern. And since everyone is avoiding contact with King's Landing, Robert is ''completely unaware of this''. He doesn't even become aware of Jon's existence until one of Hoster Tully's bannermen secretly betrays him, and by that point there's no hope of him swaying any of the other kingdoms back to his side.
** Ned Stark. Officially, he's the Head of House Stark. In reality, only Catelyn, Robb, and Rickon really listen to him. Bran and Arya do what they want, while Sansa only takes orders from Jon. Jon, while raised as a member of House Stark, is actually the head of House Targaryen, and his orders therefore supersede Ned's since he's king.
** Catelyn Stark as well. Officially, she's returned to being the Lady of Winterfell. In reality nobody trusts her anymore thanks to her disastrous mistakes in the previous timeline, so Sansa has taken most of her duties instead. To make it official, Sansa is named an emissary by Jon after he departs from Winterfell for the Wall, putting her above Catelyn in status.

* ''Fanfic/BequeathedFromPaleEstates'': [[spoiler:Theon Greyjoy has been Lord of the Iron Islands since at least the end of ThePlague, but everyone in Westeros, including him, were completely unaware of it, because no one thought to check the region over after the Iron Islands ceased all communication with the rest of the continent. This is partly because Theon's title is effectively ''meaningless'' -- ThePlague took out one third of the population (including Balon and Asha Greyjoy), inciting the smallfolk and thralls into revolt. All that's left is a group of small warring states, who are more likely to kill Theon than accede to his claim on the Seastone Chair]].
* ''Fanfic/TheKingNobodyWanted'': Stannis dislikes and distrusts Pycelle, and while he lets him keep his office as Grand Maester, tends to interrupt him whenever he's giving advice, while assigning his own ParentalSubstitute Maester Cressen to carry out tasks that would normally fall under Pycelle's jurisdiction, like a medical examination of the queen.
* In the ''Series/{{Heroes}}''/''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12045706/1/Dark-Days Dark Days]]", after the Volturi are devastated by an attack by an insane vampire infected with a variation of the Shanti virus, when Aro attempts to order that Peter be changed or killed when the Cullens come to help, Emmett bluntly points out that the Volturi don’t have the authority to enforce their laws any more considering that they’re down to about seven members, five of whom were cowering in a chamber and another two hidden in a tower after the rest were either killed by the infected vampires or fled the castle in fear.
* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'': As the Fringe Colonies are officially part of the United States, nominally the US President is their head of state. In practice, however, their unusual quasi-independent legal status [[note]]short version: President Lex Luthor set up the colonies to enhance America's autonomy from the [[TheAlliance Terran Treaty Organization]], and after his downfall the US kept them at a far reach to disassociate from him[[/note]] means that the actual leader of the region is the First Senator elected by and from the local population.

** Robb Stark is all of ''eight'' when his father dies and he becomes the new Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. That means all the actual power is in Catelyn's hands until he's of age.
** Much like in canon, Joffrey, except even more so because Cersei and him were never able to get solid foothold into the court thanks to Kevan. When his grandfather arrives, all pretense of him being in charge disappears, and he's frequently sent to his room like the errant, spoilt, whining child he is.
* The ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10080793/1/Unexpected Unexpected]]" diverges from canon when Max and Caroline meet before Martin Channing's arrest and Caroline is able to start the cupcake business straight away. Since Caroline signed over the bakery and all relevant details to Max from the start, Max retains the bakery even after Martin is arrested, but immediately invites Caroline to stay with her even when she assumed she'd be losing everything. After a few months of living with Caroline, Max reflects that she is essentially this trope as far as the bakery is concerned, as Caroline is the one dealing with bills, advertising, and "literally everything else their bakery needs aside from the food", and Max just has her name on the building and makes the cakes.

-->'''[[spoiler:Sara]]''': Tell [[spoiler:Athena]] to get lost. [[spoiler:The League’s dead, and so is H.I.V.E.]] You all can go get a real life.

* ''Fanfic/TheNakedJedi'': Briefly applies to Sarza after she is declared the head of the Nue Jedi Order as she's literally the only member of the Nue Jedi at this time, although she swiftly gains an apprentice.

*** King Joffrey may have his arse plonked firmly on the Iron Throne, but [[DragonInChief Tywin Lannister]] royally ''emasculates'' him and has no problem implying to His Grace that he is the sole reason that Joffrey continues to keep the throne, something which is obvious to everyone.

*** Littlefinger, Lord of Harrenhal, is mocked because his title amounts to nothing while the Northern army occupies the Riverlands. Subverted since the title itself is all he needs for his current plans.

*** Cersei's title as Queen Mother only holds weight before Joffrey, and later Tommen, were officially wed. Despite sitting in on Small Council Meetings, Cersei technically has no real authority. Her title as Queen Cersei, first of her name, also counts as this since she only gained this position after killing most of her political enemies and usurping the position for herself and she has no allies to speak of apart from Jaime and those at King's Landing. And even those are under extreme question at this point. In the Season 7 premiere, Jaime even brings this up.