History Main / DragonWithAnAgenda

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', [[spoiler:Fourth lieutenant Lorence (aka Loewe) seems to be the most capable man in Colonel Richard's intelligence division, but it's later revealed he's from another organization, with different objectives, and already knew that Richard's coup d'etat, which he aided, would fail. His real agenda revolved around breaking a seal in the ruins underneath the Royal Castle. He's also this to his actual boss, Weissmann, who seeks to use the Aureole to brainwash humanity while Loewe believes exposing the Aureole will shock humanity out of their complacency and self-deceit]].

* Drake from ''Literature/{{Gone}}''. A psychopath, he serves as BigBad [[TheSociopath Caine's]] top enforcer, but it's apparent from his interior monologues that he's just helping Caine in hopes that Caine and Sam will kill each other. Although he probably would've turned on Caine as soon as they no longer had mutual goals, [[spoiler:Caine tried to kill him after Drake gave [[DarkChick Diana]] near-fatal injuries, which caused Drake to switch over to The Gaiaphage.]]

* ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', part of the old ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse, has this as the relationship between Grand Admiral Thrawn himself and Jedi Master Joruus C'baoth. C'baoth took Thrawn's orders with more and more reluctance as time went on, and he wanted very different things. Towards the end, they weren't really on the same side anymore. [[spoiler:Thrawn was fully aware of this, and at the time of his death was planning to solve the problem by [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness eliminating C'baoth]] and [[SendInTheClones making a replacement C'baoth]]. His own death, nearly simultaneous to C'baoth's, derailed his plan.]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'': Albedo's loyalty to [[VillainProtagonist Ainz]] is, like all the rest of the Nazarick [=NPCs=], [[UndyingLoyalty absolute]]. However, that doesn't stop her from doing things that she knows he wouldn't like behind his back, if she thinks it's for his greater good. Most importantly, [[spoiler: secretly assembling a strike team to hunt down and kill any other Supreme Beings in the New World, despite Ainz wanting to reunite with his old friends. She does this because she doesn't want to serve anyone other than Ainz, and out of revenge for all the other Supreme Beings abandoning Nazarick and Ainz.]]

* In ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis, the main members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains:

* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} practically ''defines'' this trope. Her betraying the boss in charge is almost expected at this point, such as when [[spoiler:she killed Mr. Sinister in a BatmanGambit to save Rogue's life.]]
* During ComicBook/DarkReign, Norman Osborn put together a cabal of the best villains to help him hold onto power. Unfortunately, he ran into this trope: Doctor Doom was only in it to get back control of Latveria after his last... foray against the Avengers, Loki was in it for as long as it amused him (and later, as part of a plan to force Asgard to leave Midgard space), ComicBook/EmmaFrost was only there because she was desperate to save the mutants, and Namor was only there because he needed the political clout to rebuild Atlantis (and support Emma, who he wanted to get back together with). Later he adds Taskmaster to the group, who's only really there for the money, and unknown to Osborn, had previously helped Deadpool mess with Norman's plans. Osborn did realize that this was happening, and was starting a plan to build a new Cabal who ''wouldn't'' randomly try to kill him. [[ComicBook/{{Siege}} Unfortunately, y'know...]]

* Following ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueNoJustice'', Luthor carefully explained to the members of the Legion of Doom why his new obsession would also be in their interests, giving them each control of an energy type they could use for their own ends. Unfortunately, in ''Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth'', Black Manta went off-message when he realised just how powerful his artefact was, and that he could achieve his own ends (domination of the oceans and revenge on Aquaman) in a way that screwed the rest of the Legion over. This was almost immediately followed by [[spoiler: the Joker revealing that he only joined because he thought it would be funny to muck the whole thing up just as Luthor was about to achieve it, until Luthor getting The Batman Who Laughs involved made him speed up the timetable on that.]]

Most commonly, he and the BigBad have a mutually profitable alliance, and the BigBad just happens to be the more powerful of the two. If he's also influencing the BigBad's plans, then he's also TheManInFrontOfTheMan. DragonInChief is when TheDragon is actually the more dangerous of the pair by a significant margin. It is not unknown for him to have taken on service for his own purposes and fooled the BigBad into thinking he's subordinate-- in this case, if his own objectives ever clash with his master's, [[EnemyCivilWar things will get interesting]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': Each member under Takatora's employ each have their own agenda to fulfill. Ryoma wants to obtain the ForbiddenFruit of Helheim and to use his research to bring about a god ForScience (and possibly become a god himself), Sid also wants to [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] for [[ItsAllAbout self-serving reasons]], Yoko wishes to be the [[KingmakerScenario kingmaker]] and support anyone she thinks is worthy to be said god, Mitsuzane wants to protect his friends from Helheim and eventually tries to kill [[TheHero Kouta]] because [[HopeIsScary he believes his idealism is hurting the people he loves]], Kaito is merely using Yggdrasil to gain more power and eventually topple them, and Oren? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He cares more about his restaurant than any schemes he's involved in]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': Each member under Takatora's employ each have their own agenda to fulfill. Ryoma and Sid want to be [[GodhoodSeeker gods]] [[ForScience for different]] [[TheDogBitesBack reasons]], Yoko wishes to be the [[KingmakerScenario kingmaker]] and support anyone she thinks is worthy to be said god, Mitsuzane wants to protect his friends from Helheim and eventually tries to kill [[TheHero Kouta]] because [[HopeIsScary he believes his idealism is hurting the people he loves]], Kaito is merely using Yggdrasil to gain more power and eventually topple them, and Oren? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He cares more about his restaurant than any schemes he's involved in]].

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'': (Former) Agent Smith is under almost constant control by his Machine masters and tasked with maintaining order in the Matrix. However, even in the original film he reveals that he has ulterior motives. When he briefly removes his earpiece, he admits to Morpheus that he completely despises the "zoo" he considers himself trapped in and is revolted by even the taste of humanity. In the sequels, he goes on a full-scale rebellion to destroy everything.

* In ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'', this happens on the players' side due to being VillainProtagonists. Specifically, [[spoiler:All that time spent working with Angela was all so Roland could try to make Angela suffer by killing her as soon as she got what she wanted- as revenge for causing Distortions, including the Pianist which killed his wife and unborn child. He succeeds in one of the bad endings.]]

** Sorcerers of Chaos (especially the Tzeentchian ones) tend to be this to Chaos Lords (itis generally assumed that if your advisor openly worships the god of backstabbers but you don't take precautions against his inevitable betrayal, you ''deserve'' what you get). The best-known example would be Sindri Myr of ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'', who uses Lord Bale as a loud distraction ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ujVI5CPjk throwing him to the Blood Ravens when convenient]]) to get to his true prize: finding the Maledictum and ascending to daemonhood.

* The Ebon Dragon of ''''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'''' serves as this to Malfeas. While he may advise Malfeas or defer to his authority, he constantly seeks to manipulate the Demon King to his own purposes, and endemically betrays him. One of the biggest examples would have been back when they were the Dragon's Shadow and the Holy Tyrant respectively, and he manipulated him into creating the Unconquered Sun (a deity who could serve as something for the Shadow to oppose, even while he would also subvert the authority of the Tyrant).

* Out of WWE's Authority Wrestling/TripleH and Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon wanted what was "best for business", and they thought Wrestling/RandyOrton being WWE Champion and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] not was just that. Wrestling/{{Kane}} thought ruining people's lives was best for business but Triple H and co were good at that so he threw his lot in with them. Wrestling/TheShield wanted "justice". They sided with Wrestling/TheAuthority because they thought it was an injustice that their career paths were decided on the whims of the "WWE Universe" instead of their bosses and so attacked [[{{face}} fan favorite wrestlers]] to ensure the WWE Universe [[KickTheDog did not get what it wanted]]. But after their stablemates decided to attack Wrestling/JerryLawler, they came to the conclusion [[HeelFaceTurn the Authority was the biggest injustice in WWE]].

Most commonly, he and the BigBad have a mutually profitable alliance, and the BigBad just happens to be the more powerful of the two. If he's also influencing the BigBad's plans, then he's at the same time TheManInFrontOfTheMan. DragonInChief is when TheDragon is actually the more dangerous of the pair, by a significant margin. It is not unknown for him to have taken on service for his own purposes and fooled the BigBad into thinking he's subordinate -- in this case, if ever his own objectives clash with his master's, [[EnemyCivilWar things will get interesting]].

If the Dragon's goal involves overthrowing his boss and [[KlingonPromotion taking his job]], he's TheStarscream. The tropes can overlap somewhat, as many Dragons with Agendas intend to do away with the competition [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness at some point down the road]] (or are at least aware that they ''might'' have to); a true Starscream intends to do so at the first available opportunity and often their only difference in plans centers around ''who'' will benefit rather than ''what'' they entail.

A Dragon with an Agenda is a character serving as TheDragon to the BigBad, but having different goals from him. For example, if this character [[DragonTheirFeet encounters the heroes immediately after the death or defeat of his boss]], he/she won't try to complete Big Bad's EvilPlan, but will instead go on to pursue their own plans. Conversely, if the Big Bad actually has some admirable or honorable traits, then the Dragon in this case will be the more sadistic one, more likely to pursue actually killing the heroes rather than simply dispatching them.

* ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'' has Yudai Sonoda, who works with Re:Shocker out of a desire to avenge his sister Yuna... who was turned into a monster by their machinations. [[spoiler:By the time he actually ''does'' have his chance for revenge and guns for their leader, they're [[RefugeeFromTVLand in the real world]] and his leader [[BreakThemByTalking deconstructs how his arc will go end]]]].

** Felix Cortez in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'', Badaryn in ''Literature/ExecutiveOrders'', and Dmitri Popov in ''Literature/RainbowSix'' are all freelance professionals who are hired by the [[BigBag Big Bads]] (the [[TheCartel Medellin Cartel]], the [[MiddleEasternCoalition United Islamic Republic]], and John Brightling's pharmaceutical MegaCorp, respectively) as intelligence and special operations specialists. Originally, the "agenda" part of their behavior is extremely mild, consisting mainly of bilking their employers by skimming off the top of the money allocated for intelligence operations. However, Cortez graduates to full-blown [[TheStarscream Starscream]] when an American operation against the Cartel offers him a chance to overthrow its leaders and take their place. Popov on the other hand makes a HeelFaceTurn when he realizes that his CEO boss is running an environmentalist conspiracy whose purpose is to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out almost all human life on Earth]], making this an odd case of "dragon whose boss never bothered to tell him what the agenda ''was'' and ensure they were on the same page."
** This is the backstory of Kevin O'Donnell, leader of the Ulster Liberation Army, in ''Literature/PatriotGames''. He was once the chief of security for the [[TheTroubles Provisional Wing of the IRA]], and used this position to eliminate members of the organization whose politics didn't agree with his, ultimately in the hopes of remaking it into something more in line with his own ideology (Maoist revolutionary rather than the Provos' less radical brand of nationalism). The PIRA eventually catch on, forcing O'Donnell to flee and [[RenegadeSplinterFaction set up his own organization.]]

** Characters/MarvelComicsRedSkull, his archnemesis, has long become a self-directed supervillain in his own right. However, in the original comics, he was in fact the Dragon for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. The Fuhrer essentially plucked him off the streets of Germany in an attempt to turn him into the perfect Nazi, eventually putting him in charge of the Reich's terrorist operations. However, he realized too late that the Red Skull had become too powerful for him to control and was using his own status to build up his own power base loyal to him rather than to Hitler. This would presumably have led to the Red Skull trying to overthrow him sooner or later, but the war ended and Hitler was killed before things had a chance to come to a head.

** Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. It's clear from fairly early on that [[GeneralRipper Patrick]] [[PresidentEvil Zala's]] right-hand man, Rau Le Creuset, has his own agenda, though just what it is isn't made clear. Than TheReveal comes along: he's [[spoiler:an OmnicidalManiac who seeks the [[KillAllHumans annihilation of the entire human race]], and oh, by the by, is the ''real'' BigBad of the series, with Patrick as his UnwittingPawn]].
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'': [[TheDragon Vidar]]'s only reason for working under [[NonActionBigBad Rustal Elion]] is to get revenge on [=McGillis=]. Rustal wants to stop [=McGillis=] as well, but only because [=McGillis=] is a threat to his own plans of [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans maximizing his power]] over Gjallarhorn.

* In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', Char Aznable split his time between earnestly supporting Zeon's cause and [[TheStarscream trying to murder his boss's entire family]] in [[RevengeByProxy revenge]] for his [[YouKilledMyFather father]].

* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. It's clear from fairly early on that [[GeneralRipper Patrick]] [[PresidentEvil Zala's]] right-hand man, Rau Le Creuset, has his own agenda, though just what it is isn't made clear. Than TheReveal comes along: he's [[spoiler:an OmnicidalManiac who seeks the [[KillAllHumans annihilation of the entire human race]], and oh, by the by, is the ''real'' BigBad of the series, with Patrick as his UnwittingPawn]].

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'''s Glemmy Toto starts out as a VillainOfTheWeek, eventually graduating to a position as [[BigBad Haman Khan's]] right-hand man. While the two of them share the goal of recreating the glory of Zeon, Haman intends to do it herself. Glemmy, on the other hand, seeks to reinstate the Zabi dictatorship, as [[spoiler:represented by himself]].
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' Bask Om and his boss, Jamitov Hymem have very different agendas. Jamitov wants to rule the world. Bask, conversely, just wants to kill every colonial he can get his hands on. Since Bask's aims are rather less grandiose than Jamitov's, this doesn't really cause them too many problems.
** Scirocco fills the role a bit better than Bask, and the two are basically competing versions of this.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': Blood Stalk AKA [[spoiler:Evolto]] lets each of the other villains take turns as the major threat while he plays their dragon, all the while advancing his own goals instead of theirs. The moment he's done using a villain, he ends the facade brutally and effectively.

->'''Talzo''': It's complicated. I'd prefer to leave your Squad out of my issues, but my actions aren't all related to my issues.\\
'''Caiya''': What does that even mean?\\
'''Talzo''': It means that if I got my way, I'd have gotten my revenge on Hali for what she did to me and none of you guys would have been involved whatsoever.

* In the anime adaptation of ''[[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa Kirby]]'', [[StealthMentor Meta]] [[WorthyOpponent Knight]] is this to King Dedede. He claims to work for Dedede, but his mission is to defeat the demonic Nightmare, from whom Dedede orders his monsters from.

* Invoked in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' by [[MagnificentBastard Gendo]] [[LoveMakesYouEvil Ikari]], playing The Dragon to [[BigBad Keel Lorenz]] by ensuring the destruction of the [[EldritchAbomination Angels]] to open the path to [[AssimilationPlot Insturmentality]]. Once the path is open, he will immediately take things off the rails for his own [[EternalLove reunification]] [[LoveMakesYouCrazy scenario]].
** Interestingly, the leaders of both [=NERV=] and [=SEELE=] both know from the very beginning that before the end, one will betray the other once they don't need the other groups help anymore. [[spoiler:And in ''End of Evangelion'', [=SEELE=] orders a full assault, killing almost everyone at [=NERV=].]]

* Vincent Leung in ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'' is employed by Octavia for various tasks and supports her, but it's made clear toward the end of the arc that he doesn't agree with her ultimate goals and also spends a healthy amount of time trying to advance his own goals with Seigi.

** The Anti-Monitor's goal is simple - [[OmnicidalManiac to wipe out every single thing in the matter multiverse]]. Nice when a villain has such a clear focus on what they want, isn't it?

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', if you are a Dark Elf or a Skaven, chances are you're this or have one or more of these under your comand. Warriors of Chaos and Orcs also might fit under this.

** Also, Sabine is Nale's Dragon. However, she's also covertly working for [[spoiler:The Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission.]] Luckily for Nale, her agenda involved helping him advance his agenda. [[spoiler:Also, it's implied in the Western Continent arc that her loyalty to Nale is actually greater than her loyalty to the IFCC, though she still works for them.]] And getting [[UnholyMatrimony lots of hot hot sex from him.]] Though, considering [[HornyDevils what she is,]] that last part goes without saying.

** ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'': Simon Peter Gruber may or may not be this. He claims to be working for Middle Eastern clients who have hired him to steal and blow up the gold contents of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Instead, he's simply planning to keep the gold for himself, only pretending to blow it up to cover his tracks. However, since we never see the "gentlemen in the Middle East," it's unclear if Simon is cheating them, or if he completely made them up in order to con the Americans into thinking his high-stakes heist really was a terrorist attack.

** Bowen is a benevolent example. He's a Knight of the Old (i.e. Arthurian) Code who's now the greatest warrior of a WastelandWarlord that he holds in deep contempt, along with the rest of his knights, as nothing more than glorified marauders and pillagers. However, he hopes that as weapons instructor for his boss' son, he'll be able to instill a sense of honor in him that'll make him a better king than his father. Unfortunately, the plan goes to waste, as Prince Einon steadfastly ignored every moral lesson and went on to be an even worse king, forcing Bowen to cut ties with him.
** Draco, meanwhile, is a literal dragon, and does have an agenda. However, it's completely unrelated to this trope.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler seem particularly prone to picking these.

** Felix Cortez in ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'', Badaryn in ''Literature/ExecutiveOrders'', and Dmitri Popov in ''Literature/RainbowSix'' are all freelance professionals who are hired by the [[BigBag Big Bads]] (the [[TheCartel Medellin Cartel]], the government of the [[MiddleEasternCoalition United Islamic Republic]], and John Brightling's pharmaceutical MegaCorp, respectively) as intelligence and special operations specialists. Originally, the "agenda" part of their behavior is extremely mild, consisting mainly of bilking their employers by skimming off the top of the money allocated for intelligence operations. However, Cortez graduates to full-blown [[TheStarscream Starscream]] when an American operation against the Cartel offers him a chance to overthrow its leaders and take their place. Popov on the other hand makes a HeelFaceTurn when he realizes that his CEO boss is running an environmentalist conspiracy whose purpose is to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out almost all human life on Earth]], making this an odd case of "dragon whose boss never bothered to tell him what the agenda ''was'' and ensure they were on the same page."

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Master Bra'tac is a benevolent example when acting as the leader of Apophis' armies. He knows his boss isn't a god, just a bloodthirsty warlord, but Apophis and his Goa'uld brethren have ruled the galaxy for ten thousand years and Bra'tac has no prospects of overthrowing them. So he does the best thing he can: worm his way into a position of trust where he can act as a sometimes-heeded voice of restraint and limit the damage Apophis does as much as he can. He passes this ethos onto his successor, Teal'c. However, once Teal'c defects to Earth and joins a full-blown war against the Goa'uld, Bra'tac soon abandons this role and joins him in fomenting open revolution.

* In ''Film/DieHard'', Hans' top henchman Karl's brother -- another of Hans' henchmen -- is killed by [=McClane=]. Karl wants revenge against [=McClane=], losing interest in the main mission for the rest of the movie.