History Main / AuthorityInNameOnly

-->--'''The King Of Town''', ''HomestarRunner''

* As noted above and the former TropeNamer, [[HomestarRunner the King of Town]]. He's treated as a rather loopy old relative who isn't going to let go of his delusions, and he ''does'' own a castle, which he lives in, 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 Skroob of ''{{Spaceballs}}''. "I can't make decisions! I'm the president!"

* The Mayor in TheNightmareBeforeChristmas seems to come from the same political school as [[{{Spaceballs}} President Skroob]]:

* Mayor Bo in ''TheLegendOfZelda: Twilight Princess'' 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 Doteur in ''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.

* As noted above and the former TropeNamer, [[HomestarRunner the King of Town]]. He's treated as a rather loopy old relative who isn't going to let go of his delusions, and he ''does'' own a castle, which he lives in, but he rarely shows any signs of having any kind of authority. In the "Strong Badia the Free" episode of ''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 [[WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic Critic]] of ''{{Kickassia}}'', following the takeover and renaming of Molossia (see RealLife section).

* {{Futurama}}'s Professor Farnsworth is a professor, but he only teaches one class, in a non-existing field. Fry's the only one to sign up for it.

* In an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Worf convinces Chancellor Gowron to give a clone of Khaless (The legendary founder of Klingon culture) the vacant position of Emperor, only as a symbolic function for the empire to rally around.

-->'''Mayor''': Jack, where are you? I can't make decisions on my own, ''I'm only an elected official!''

Contrast MayorOfAGhostTown, where the person ''is'' a recognized authority figure, it's just that there's no one left to rule over. Also contrast JustTheFirstCitizen, where the figure doesn't claim a grand title but holds the real power nevertheless -- the diametric inverse of this trope. For characters who actually do wield tyrannical control over some place, see IOwnThisTown.

* Mayor Pirkle of ''EarthBound'' fame.

* Viscount Dumar from ''DragonAgeII'' should be the most powerful man in Kirkwall, but the word on the street pretty much says Knight-Commander Meredith's the one with the real power. And all around him, extremist clerics, taciturn Qunari and who knows what else threatens his already delicate rule of the powder keg that is Kirkwall and he is unable to do anything about the problems that crop up except to turn to you. A shame, really, since he's the one of the {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s in the blighted place.

* President Nostalgia Critic of ''{{Kickassia}}'', following the takeover and renaming of Molossia (see RealLife section).
** TheNostalgiaCritic of the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses site too. He tries to reassert his authority, really he does, but he will nearly always get walked over and then give up.

* President Nostalgia Critic of {{Kickassia}}, following the takeover and renaming of Molossia (see RealLife section).

* Commodor Nelson Royale of ''One Piece''.

* King Uther in the first few eps of Merlin season 4. He's 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.

* Lars' position as the leader of Bladehenge and the resistance in ''[[{{Ptitle4w46reyn}} Brütal Legend]]'' is mostly symbolic. The man rarely ever takes charge and he's just a symbol. Eddie actually leads the troops in battle, forms strategies, and does pretty much everything. This suits Eddie fine though, as he's a roadie, and a roadie's job is to make someone else look good.

* Probably the ultimate example of this is King Steve of ''[=~8-Bit Theater~=]'', who varies between this and TheCaligula. Especially when his choice for his [[NumberTwo right hand man]] is, well... his right hand.

*** In the end of that chapter of SBCG4AP, Strong Bad discovers that [[spoiler: not only was being KOT more stressful than he thought, but ''the King orchestrated Strong Bad's rebellion just so he wouldn't have to be King anymore''!]]

* Games from the Phantasy Star series are riddled with these. In P-Star 2, there is an item called a "Mogic Cap" which appears to be useless as it is found in a labyrinth near a "Magic Cap", which in turn allows the player to communicate with the cats that are running around the labyrinth, but its uselessness for talking to the cats is a red herring, for the plot is stuck until the "Mogic Cap" is worn into a village on the Ice Planet Dezo, and serves as a translation device with the people. In P-Star 4 (also on the same ''[[{{SingleBiomePlanet}} Ice Planet]]'' whose name has been lengthened to Dezolis now that it's not limited to a 4-character slot), the plot is completely frozen at a certain point until the party visits the second floor in one particular building in one particular town, where one of the characters in the party will suddenly fall ill and the plot can finally continue.

** To be fair, the guy he was trying to talk to is known as "The Pumpkin King", and with a title like that he's gotta have at least some authority over the mayor.

-->'''Mayor''': Jack, where are you? I can't make decisions on my own, ''I'm an elected official!''

* The Mayor in TheNightmareBeforeChristmas seems to come from the same political school as [[Spaceballs President Skroob]]: