History Main / FourStarBadAss

** In general, the Great Captains are this trope when they get to show their stuff, especially Gareth Bryne and Rodel Ituralde, who are both blademasters as well. Ituralde is practically TheGhost in the series while the other great generals have appeared, until ''The Gathering Storm'' where he holds his own with a ragtag, unsupplied army against the Seanchan, who have greater numbers, [{GiantFlyer air forces]], and ''[[FunctionalMagic damane]]''. And Bryne raised an army to besiege the greatest city in the world out of nothing. Shame [[VelvetRevolution he didn't get to use it]]].

* General Horace Warfield, the Terran Dominion's answer to the Zerg invasion in ''{{Starcraft II}}: Wings Of Liberty}}''. Previous examples of four-or-better-stars in the series were impressive, but lacking true badassery. Warfield, however, [[spoiler:holds the line on the ground in a suit of Marine armor on Char itself with his men, not from the bridge of a battlecruiser. He bayonets a zergling, only to get spined by a hydralisk--then punches the hydralisk right the hell out when it subsequently pounces on him. In the end, he needed rescue from Raynor with a {{BFG}} and a few Banshees, but the fact remains--''he knocked out a hydralisk''. Later, he's complaining that the medics wouldn't cut his arm off to halt the spread of the hydralisk's poison. Still later, he shows up...with [[ArmCannon a mechanical arm that can change into a gun]].

* ''{{Naruto}}'': The Sandaime Hokage is generally regarded as an old war veteran and is depicted generally as a grandpa like figure. In the Chunin Exam Arc, he evolves into a Four Star Badass when he takes on two previous Four Star Badasses and one Dragon, successfully destroying the other Four Star Badasses and permanently disabling the Dragon. His character also overlaps with the BadassGrandpa trope.

--[[TheWheelOfTime Knife of Dreams]]
* Richard Hannay from TheThirtyNineSteps is promoted quickly to Major-General once his determined badassery becomes apparent. Promotion dulls neither his skills nor his insane perseverence.

** Da Warboss of da Orks is da Warboss kuz e's da biggest, da stompiest, da choppaest, da dakkaest ork in da whol damn WAAAGHHH, an' 'e stomps anyone wuz sez diff'rnt.

*** Admiral Christopher Pike in ''[[StarTrekXI Star Trek]]''.

-->Chegwidden: [In Italian] Not crazy. Practical.

* Field Marshal Tenpou and General Kenren from {{Saiyuki}} Gaiden.
* The Generals of the Black Order in [=~D.Gray-Man~=], thanks to AsskickingEqualsAuthority- they're required to have a greater than 100% synchronization rate to get the post.

* Admiral Albadawi of the Terran Confederation in {{Traveller)).

** Later, in the 1815 campaign Kutuzov's army was beaten by Napoleon at Ligny, Kutuzov himself was unhorsed and trampled by French cavalry. Kutuzov poured brandy into his wounds, ate a meal of raw garlic, rallied his army, evaded the French forces sent to keep them on the run, and brought his troops back to the field of Waterloo in time to cinch the victory.
*** I believe you may have confused Russia and Prussia, and Kutuzov and Blucher.
*** Correct. Kutuzov died in early 1813, a good two years before Waterloo, where the things described above happened to and were done by Blücher.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GeneralPatton.jpg]]
[[caption-width:300:TruthInTelevision.]]

-->''"There's [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld two kinds of generals]] in the service. Some are dumber than a box of inbred chickens and get their job through political connections, and not actual battlefield skills. I'm the other kind. Learn the difference."''
--->-- General Lumberdon, ''AntiheroForHire'' [[http://www.antiheroforhire.com/d/20090406.html 2009-04-06]]

-->'''Soldier:''' "Where ya goin', General?"
-->'''Patton:''' "Berlin. I'm going to personally shoot [[AdolfHitler that paper-hangin' sonofabitch]]!"
--->-- ''{{Patton}}''

* Marshal of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim rose to General in the Russian Army after fighting the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War, and distinguished himself in battle as a commanding general on the eastern front of WW1 (one of the few to do so for the Russians). Retired after the Revolution and returned to Finland where he was immediately placed in command of the essentially non-existent White Army at the beginning of the Finnish Civil War. Led said army to victory over the Reds then resigned. Was then elected Regent of Finland while the government debated becoming a Monarchy or a Democracy and was a candidate for King. Then spent the 20's traveling the world and hunting in exotic locales. Then commanded the Finnish Defense Forces through the Winter War and Continuation War, successfully preserving Finnish independence and running up a truly lopsided casualty count (typically over 100:1 against the Soviets). Became President of Finland and led Finland through the third of its wars during WW2 (this one against Germany). So influential on Finnish life that his birthday is Flag Day in Finland and the highest award for valor in Finland is the Mannerheim Cross.

*** Don't forget his highly impressive career in the US Special Forces. The guy used to be a Ranger and a paratrooper.

Many examples of this trope will probably turn out to be [[BadassGrandpa Badass Grandpas and Grandmas]]. Often a contemporary of the OldSoldier.

***Also from the battle of Endor, Admiral Ackbar.
**** General Maximilian Veers in {{The Empire Strikes Back}}. He led the Imperial Forces in their successful attack on the Rebel base at Hoth.

*** He's a villain, yes. But there's no doubt that General Grievous was also a badass. Consider, when the man's cloak holds at ''least'' a dozen lightsabers; his souvenirs from ''slain Jedi''. Think about that....

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* Jack O'Neill was promoted from ColonelBadass to FourStarBadass in ''StargateSG1''.
** General Hammond put on fatigues every now and then and was never afraid to leave the desk when a more ''"personal"'' touch was needed. Also, Sam Carter's dad General Jacob Carter became one of the leaders of the Tok'ra resistance.
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' showed that Captain Janeway became FAR more badass when she became Admiral in the future.
** In the final episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Commander Riker becomes Admiral TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, but he's lost some of his badassness. He gets it back, though.
*** Admiral Maxwell Forrest of ''StarTrekEnterprise''. And his mirror universe counterpart, who was TheCaptain.
** General/Chancellor Martok. "''A bottle??? HA! I've brought a barrel of 2309 Blood wine. There is NO finer vintage!''"
* Due to the weird system of Colonial rank, Commander Adama of the ''BattlestarGalactica'' is most likely equivalent to a Commodore. And he is certainly a BadAss. And he became an even bigger badass when the President promoted him to Admiral.
** Admiral Helena Cain was certainly a [[GeneralRipper Ripper]] but she was undoubtedly badass.
* [[TheBrigadier Brigadier]] Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce from ''DoctorWho''.
* General Benjamin Juma of ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' who's so badass he decided to lead a raid on the freakin' White House '''himself''' and even slapped the President. It's too bad he was a villain.
** Turns out President Omar Hassan is a retired General in the Kamistani Revolutionary Guard. It explains a lot of the badassitude we see from him as Day 8 wears on.
* Brigadier General Beckman from ''{{Chuck}}'' is trying to be this. In the later seasons she seems to be somewhat succeeding.
* Rear Admiral Chegwidden in ''{{JAG}}'' fits the trope to a tee.
-->Chegwidden: Senior Amati, many people have tried to kill me one time or another. They're mostly dead. So there's a good chance that your brother-in-law will join them if he does come after me.... Does he have other sons?
-->Enrico Amati: Uno.
-->Chegwidden: Whe he comes... I'll regrettably kill him too.... And after him?
-->Amati: My sister will expect me to uphold the honor of mi familia.
-->Chegwidden: Then I'll have to kill you. I don't want to have to do that.
-->Amati: [in Italian] You're either a very *bold* man, or crazy!
-->Chegwidden: [In Italian] Not crazy. Practical.

** General Luke Skywalker in LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor - the youngest general in the NR military. The second-youngest is five years older than Han Solo. He's not bothered by the age gap. He's bothered by how the others assume that since he's a Jedi he automatically knows better, and people are afraid to question his plans.

* Hawk from ''GIJoe''.

*** Not to put to fine a point on it, but Eisenhower was a ''[[UpToEleven Five]]'' Star Badass, and Washington was eventually given title to being a '''[[BeyondTheImpossible Six]]''' Star Badass.
*** [[UpToEleven 5-Star]] (General of the Army) is an in-active grade conferred only during war-time, and has only been awarded 8 times total; it equivalent ranks in Navy and Air Force are Fleet Admiral (conferred 4 times) and General of the Air Force (conferred once).
**** Beyond that, there is also a gray area with the [[BeyondTheImpossible 6 star]] rank General of the Armies (conferred twice, to Generals John Pershing and George Washington) and Admiral of the Navy (conferred once, to Admiral Dewey). In this case, they outrank 5 stars, but have never been specifically stated as being 6 stars. However, George Washington's rank was designed to make him senior in rank to ALL military personnel ''forever'' and is specifically stated as General of the Armies ''of the United States'' and is "to have rank and precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present." In theory, this could mean a 7th star. Confused yet?

***Actually, if I recall, he was both criticizing the recruitment system(which acquired to many "scum of the Earth" in his opinion), and praising Britain's [[DrillSergeantNasty Drill Sergeant Nasties]] for their effectiveness in making them into effective soldiers.

***In personal duels with a flintlock maybe. He's the only general of the Napoleonic wars however who never lost a battle to Napoleon. Sure, it may have been partly because he only fought one battle against Bonaparte himself, but you can't take that away from him.