History Main / JusttheFirstCitizen

* [[OlderThanTheyThink Before him]], we have UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, who started out calling himself ''Duce del Partito Fascista'', meaning "Leader of the Fascist Party". ''Duce'' itself was just a fancy way to say "leader" (coming from the Latin ''[[PretentiousLatinMotto dux]]'', from which also the Italian ''duca'' and its English equivalent ''duke'' are derived), before his use of it ruined the title in the eyes of most Italians. As for the titles he used to rule, he was merely the "President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy", or Prime Minister for short (officially the king was still in charge, and had the power to dismiss him... as he actually did in 1943), and during the German occupation, he was the ''Duce e Capo del Governo'' (Leader and Chief of the Government). After the conquest of Ethiopia, however, he gave himself a couple of bombastic titles, changing his title as chief of the Fascist Party into "Leader and Founder of the Empire" and appointing himself as "First Marshall of the Empire" together with the king (a move to put the prime minister, that is himself, on the same rank as the king in the military chain of command).

** One benevolent example is Suyin: As the founder and leader of [[HiddenElfVillage Zaofu]], she doesn't seem to have an official title, though her seniority is clearly acknowledged by others.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' provides a somewhat less villainous example with Oberon, whose sole title is Lord of Avalon, even though for all intents and purposes he's a PhysicalGod who rules [[TheFairFolk the Third Race]] as King (and allows his wife Titania to use the title "Queen"). His sense of egalitarianism seems especially odd, since as a rule [[SmugSuper he's not exactly humble]]. WordOfGod is that the title ''is'' Oberon's attempt at humility, and he does consider himself to be humble- he's just too arrogant to be any good at it. The rest of the Third Race puts up with him because their previous ruler, Oberon's mother Queen Mab, was TheCaligula outright, and even Oberon looks good next to her. He was also actually pretty reasonable compared to Titania, originally; her being a RoyalBrat led him to divorce her and exile the whole race from Avalon for several centuries. However, the centuries among mortals caused her to mellow and develop while he remained the same because he didn't think he had any lessons to learn.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' provides a somewhat less villainous example with Oberon, whose sole title is Lord of Avalon, even though for all intents and purposes he's a PhysicalGod who rules [[TheFairFolk the Third Race]] as King (and allows his wife Titania to use the title "Queen"). His sense of egalitarianism seems especially odd, since as a rule [[SmugSuper he's not exactly humble]]. WordOfGod is that the title ''is'' Oberon's attempt at humility, and he does consider himself to be humble- he's just too arrogant to be any good at it. The rest of the Third Race puts up with him because their previous ruler, Oberon's mother Queen Mab, was TheCaligula outright, and even Oberon looks good next to her. [[ValuesDissonance He was also actually pretty reasonable compared to his wife Titania. However, the centuries caused her to mellow and develop while he remained the same.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' provides a somewhat less villainous example with Oberon, whose sole title is Lord of Avalon, even though for all intents and purposes he's a PhysicalGod who rules [[TheFairFolk the Third Race]] as king (and allows his wife Titania to use the title "Queen"). His sense of egalitarianism seems especially odd, since as a rule [[SmugSuper he's not exactly humble]]. WordOfGod is that the title ''is'' Oberon's attempt at humility, and he does consider himself to be humble- he's just too arrogant to be any good at it. The rest of the Third Race puts up with him because their previous ruler, Oberon's mother Queen Mab, was TheCaligula outright, and even Oberon looks good next to her. [[ValuesDissonance He was also actually pretty reasonable compared to his wife Titania. However, the centuries caused her to mellow and develop while he remained the same.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' provides a somewhat less villainous example with Oberon, whose sole title is Lord of Avalon, even though for all intents and purposes he's a PhysicalGod who rules [[TheFairFolk the Third Race]] as king. His sense of egalitarianism seems especially odd, since as a rule [[SmugSuper he's not exactly humble]]. WordOfGod is that the title ''is'' Oberon's attempt at humility, and he does consider himself to be humble- he's just too arrogant to be any good at it. The rest of the Third Race puts up with him because their previous ruler, Oberon's mother Queen Mab, was TheCaligula outright, and even Oberon looks good next to her. [[ValuesDissonance He was also actually pretty reasonable compared to his wife Titania. However, the centuries caused her to mellow and develop while he remained the same.]]

* After Deng Xiaoping retired from his last formal position as the chairman of the military commission, he only kept the title of Honorary Chairman of the China TabletopGame/{{Bridge}} Association. Until his death, however, everyone knew who was the real leader of the Peoples' Republic of China.

* {{Inver|tedTrope}}sion in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. Gordon Freeman's crimes have rendered him Anti-Citizen One.
** Played straight with [[BigBad Administrator Breen.]]

** Elrond, while "mighty among Elves and Men" and fairly powerful, is simply called "Master Elrond". Elves barely have any concept of "rank"; while they attach prestige to lineage, an individual's actual power mostly derives solely from other elves being willing to follow him (though if a given leader doesn't make many mistakes, other Elves will tend to prefer status quo to revolution). Their political model is basically, in anthropological terms, a pre-chiefdom tribal one, like that of the Sioux or Apache. (Which makes sense, since [[TheAgeless they have no reason to care about having an order of succession except under very exceptional circumstances.]]) Mind you, the Elves ''do'' have more traditional sophisticated monarchies, and in ages past there were many Elf kingdoms,[[note]]The First Age had more than you can realistically count, while Gil-galad ran a decent-sized kingdom in the Second Age.[[/note]] but in the Third Age the only proper kingdoms of Elves remaining in Middle-Earth are that of Thranduil at the northern end of Mirkwood (Legolas's people) and Lothlórien (of which Galadriel styles herself "Lady" but everyone recognizes her as a queen in all but name). The other remaining Elven kingdoms are in Valinor.

** Elrond, while "mighty among Elves and Men" and fairly powerful, is simply called "Master Elrond". Elves barely have any concept of "rank"; while they attach prestige to lineage, an individual's actual power mostly derives solely from other elves being willing to follow him (though if a given leader doesn't make many mistakes, other Elves will tend to prefer status quo to revolution). Their political model is basically, in anthropological terms, a pre-chiefdom tribal one, like that of the Sioux or Apache. Mind you, the Elves ''do'' have more traditional sophisticated monarchies, and in ages past there were many Elf kingdoms,[[note]]The First Age had more than you can realistically count, while Gil-galad ran a decent-sized kingdom in the Second Age.[[/note]] but in the Third Age the only proper kingdoms of Elves remaining in Middle-Earth are that of Thranduil at the northern end of Mirkwood (Legolas's people) and Lothlórien (of which Galadriel styles herself "Lady" but everyone recognizes her as a queen in all but name). The other remaining Elven kingdoms are in Valinor. Also, Elrond is very much an example of ModestRoyalty.

* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'': [[TheChessmaster William Kraft]] is officially merely a state governor, and [[ChessmasterSidekick John Rumford]] merely Quartermaster General on the Army General Staff. Between the two of them, they nevertheless effectively control the whole [[TheRepublic Confederation]].

*** In the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' novel series Darth Caedus (fka Jacen Solo) is effectively the absolute ruler of the Galactic Federation of Free Aliances by the last novel of the series before being cut down by his sister Jaina Solo.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren Plato's Stepchildren]]", The leader of the powerful immortals goes simply by his name, Parmen, saying that "[[ThePhilosopherKing philosopher-kings]] have no need of titles".

* ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'': In the re-imagined series, Ming is no longer "Emperor Ming the Merciless" who dressed like rulers of Ancient China. Instead, he prefers a military uniform and the self-appointed title of "Benevolent Father". His subjects, though, still occasionally call him "Ming the Merciless" behind his back. And his daughter is still called Princess Aura.

** ''Bread and Circuses:'' Kirk & co. come across a Roman Empire-[[RecycledINSPACE analogue planet]] where Kirk's buddy Captain Merrick has become First Citizen Merikus. Subverted in that it's clear he has no power whatsoever. It appears the only reason for keeping him around is to lure other Federation ships to restock their gladiator supply.
** ''Plato's Stepchildren:'' The leader of the powerful immortals goes simply by his name, Parmen, saying that "Philospher-kings have no need of titles."

Either way, his title is short, simple, and unpretentious, quite possibly little more than a job descriptor. His authority doesn't come from his title; it comes from ''[[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking himself]]''.

* TropeNamer: Pericles, the statesman in the Greek city-state of UsefulNotes/{{Athens}} who first established democracy as an effective system of governance, was described as the "First Citizen of UsefulNotes/{{Athens}}" by the contemporary historian Creator/{{Thucydides}}.

* ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Two years after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', [[NonActionBigBad Ysanne Isard]] has gained control of the largest Imperial Remnant faction and rules from Emperor Palpatine's palace on [[InsistentTerminology Imperial Center]] (i.e. Coruscant). She never changes her official title away from that of her prior post, Director of Imperial Intelligence.

* In ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame'', Marty returns to an alternate 1985 in which Dr. Emmett Brown started a romance with teetotaler Edna Strickland in 1931, never saw Film/{{Frankenstein}}, and instead used his enormous brain to create Edna's version of the perfect society: alcohol is illegal, all activity is monitored by cameras, and "troublesome" people are brainwashed into compliance. This version of the Doc calls himself "First Citizen Brown" and genuinely believes he is the benevolent leader of a utopia, until the Marty from the original timeline snaps him out of it.

** Chairman is a typical title of Communist leaders, like Mao and Khrushchev.

* The titular hero of ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' refuses the title of "Duke of Brabant" in favor of the more functional "Protector." (In Wagner's original script the title was "Leader" -- ''Führer'' -- but that is usually changed these days for obvious reasons.)

* In ''Literature/LookToTheWest'', Rodrigus Alfarus, the ''de facto'' leader of the Societist Combine in its early years, has the title of "Kapud", commander of the Celatores (which looks a lot like an army, but Societism teaches that war is always wrong, so it can't be), and is outranked by the Zonal Rejes, except that he's the one that appoints them. Combine diplomats claim bewilderment when countries negotiating with them ask for confirmation by such a minor civil servant, although this is probably an affectation. This comes back to bite him when the Danubian Societists -- who follow a heterodox version of Societism, and appointed their own Rej unilatirally -- ''also'' pretend to believe he's a minor civil servant.

* In ''Literature/LookToTheWest'', Rodrigus Alfarus, the ''de facto'' leader of the Societist Combine in its early years, has the title of "Kapud", commander of the Celatores (which looks a lot like an army, but Societism teaches that war is always wrong, so it can't be), and is outranked by the Zonal Rejes, except that he's the one that appoints them. Combine diplomats claim bewilderment when countries negotiating with them ask for confirmation by such a minor civil servant, although this is probably an affectation.