History Main / LoyalToThePosition

* Discussed and taken to the logical conclusion in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3''. [[TheAce The Boss]] lectures Snake on needing to be loyal to the President, no matter who the President is or who the enemy is. He assures her of his loyalty, which is great because it turns out [[FallenHero the Boss has turned traitor]] and he has to kill her. By the end of the game, we learn that [[spoiler: the Boss was actually so loyal to her country, she was willing to give up her child, her husband, her heroic reputation, and her very life in order to serve her country.]]

* The second of the ''Literature/BooksOfSamuel'' brings us Ahithophel, a man so renowned for his counsel that it was as if someone sought the advice of God himself. He was Counselor to David but when Absalom usurped David and forced him to flee, Ahithophel remained behind to act as counselor to Absalom. David prayed to God to bring Ahithophel's counsel to ruin. Eventually Absalom ignores a single piece of advice from Ahithophel and this alone [[DrivenToSuicide pushes him over the edge.]]

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* Anastas Mikoyan,[[note]]If that name sounds familiar, it's probably because his aerospace-engineer kid brother Artem was the "Mi" in the [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Soviet Air Force]]'s "[=MiG=]"[[/note]] a Soviet public servant and politician who started his career under Lenin, survived Stalinism from beginning to end, went through Khruschev's reforms and survived a coup against him and finished his career under Leonid Brezhnev. There was even a saying about him: ''From Ilyich (''Lenin'') to Ilyich (''Brezhnev'') without cardiac arrest and paralysis (От Ильича до Ильича без инфаркта и паралича) (Ot Ilyicha do Ilyicha bez infarkta i paralicha''). It helps that he was always more of a technocrat [[VetinariJobSecurity working the essential state functions]] (and focusing on delivering quality-of-life improvements to Soviet citizens[[note]]Especially in terms of food; Mikoyan went to the United States for 3 months in the mid-1930s to study its food industry, and came back with all manner of ideas. He was most noted for developing the Soviet ice cream industry, which he personally supervised to maintain quality; Stalin (a longtime personal friend, having risen from the same community of Caucasus Old Bolsheviks) needled him by saying "Anastas, sometimes I think you care more about ice cream than Communism." (For his part, Mikoyan was probably thinking something along the lines of "wasn't the ice cream the point of the Communism?"[[/note]]), leaving ''the politicking'' to the others, and, being an Armenian, [[SlaveToPR he was a display case]] of the Soviet Union's self-professed internationalism and multiculturalism.

* Anastas Mikoyan, a Soviet public servant and politician who started his career under Lenin, survived Stalinism from beginning to end, went through Khruschev's reforms and survived a coup against him and finished his career under Leonid Brezhnev. There was even a saying about him: ''From Ilyich (''Lenin'') to Ilyich (''Brezhnev'') without cardiac arrest and paralysis (От Ильича до Ильича без инфаркта и паралича) (Ot Ilyicha do Ilyicha bez infarkta i paralicha''). It helps that he was always more of a technocrat [[VetinariJobSecurity working the essential state functions]] (and focusing on delivering quality-of-life improvements to Soviet citizens[[note]]Especially in terms of food; Mikoyan went to the United States for 3 months in the mid-1930s to study its food industry, and came back with all manner of ideas. He was most noted for developing the Soviet ice cream industry, which he personally supervised to maintain quality; Stalin (a longtime personal friend, having risen from the same community of Caucasus Old Bolsheviks) needled him by saying "Anastas, sometimes I think you care more about ice cream than Communism."[[/note]]), leaving ''the politicking'' to the others, and, being an Armenian, [[SlaveToPR he was a display case]] of the Soviet Union's self-professed internationalism and multiculturalism.

* In the now-closed MMO ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', Ghost Widow is bound to the material plane by her loyalty to [[EvilEmpire Arachnos]] as an organization. As long as the organization exists in some form, she cannot be permanently banished. This doesn't mean she's loyal to anyone specific in the organization. In fact, she's often treated as a borderline AntiVillain who openly dislikes her CoDragons Captain Mako and Black Scorpion and only pays lip service to [[BigBad Lord Recluse]] himself.

* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': The San Theodoros's military officers seem content to serve whoever is the head of the state. After remorselessly trying to kill Alcazar, Tintin and the others on Tapioca's orders in the first half of the book, they cheer and congratulate Alcazar after the latter deposes Tapioca and is more than happy to follow Alcazar's orders and help the others stop Thompson and Thomson's execution and free Castafiore from the life imprisonment decided during Tapioca's regime.

** In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', High Priest Dios has always served whoever is currently the Pharaoh. [[TimeAbyss Always.]] Something of a subversion, however; he's been doing it so long he knows what orders the Pharaoh is "supposed" to give, and follows those "orders" regardless of what the guy behind the golden mask has to say about it. He's loyal to his own ''idea'' of the Pharaoh.

A character who is LoyalToThePosition is adept at surviving RegimeChange with position intact. It is possible that he is simply very adaptable, or possible that he has UltimateJobSecurity or VetinariJobSecurity. This character is not necessarily TheQuisling, or lacking principles. It is possible that the Position Loyalist regards himself as above the fray of factionalism, and would describe himself as "loyal to the kingdom, not the king." He might regard keeping the practical aspects of the state functioning as far more constructive and beneficial to the populace than involving himself with factional loyalties -- and he [[TheExtremistWasRight could be right.]]

* Anastas Mikoyan, a Soviet public servant and politician who started his career under Lenin, survived Stalinism from beginning to end, went through Khruschev's reforms and survived a coup against him and finished his career under Leonid Brezhnev. There was even a saying about him: ''From Ilyich (''Lenin'') to Ilyich (''Brezhnev'') without cardiac arrest and paralysis (От Ильича до Ильича без инфаркта и паралича) (Ot Ilyicha do Ilyicha bez infarkta i paralicha''). It helps that he was always more of a technocrat [[VetinariJobSecurity working the essential state functions]] (and focusing on delivering quality-of-life improvements to Soviet citizens[[note]]Especially in terms of food; Mikoyan went to the United States to study its food industry, and came back with all manner of ideas. He was most noted for developing the Soviet ice cream industry, which he personally supervised to maintain quality; Stalin (a longtime personal friend) needled him by saying "Anastas, sometimes I think you care more about ice cream than Communism."[[/note]]), leaving ''the politicking'' to the others, and, being an Armenian, [[SlaveToPR he was a display case]] of the Soviet Union's self-professed internationalism and multiculturalism.

* Anastas Mikoyan, a Soviet public servant and politician who started his career under Lenin, survived Stalinism from beginning to end, went through Khruschev's reforms and survived a coup against him and finished his career under Leonid Brezhnev. There was even a saying about him: ''From Ilyich (''Lenin'') to Ilyich (''Brezhnev'') without cardiac arrest and paralysis (От Ильича до Ильича без инфаркта и паралича) (Ot Ilyicha do Ilyicha bez infarkta i paralicha''). It helps that he was always more of a technocrat [[VetinariJobSecurity working the essential state functions]], leaving ''the politicking'' to the others, and, being an Armenian, [[SlaveToPR he was a display case]] of the Soviet Union's self-professed internationalism and multiculturalism.

* Possibly describes ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}''. Captain Olimar seems to deduce that they will loyally follow anyone who pulls them out of the ground.
* The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' games have a few examples:
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke encounters Seneschal Bran, an ObstructiveBureaucrat who works for the Viscount of Kirkwall. It doesn't matter who that happens to be or even if that person exists at all, he is loyal to the Viscount of Kirkwall - and something of a JerkAss to almost everyone else.
** A sidequest in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has the [[PlayerCharacter Inquisitor]] encounter a group called the Blades of Hessarian and learn of the rules by which anyone may challenge the current leader for his position in a DuelToTheDeath. As it turns out, the current leader has been making the Blades - normally a sort of [[ChurchMilitant religious militia]] - raid the Storm Coast like bandits, and most of the Blades hate the guy, but they keep following him because nobody has succeeded in ousting him through a formal challenge. The Inquisitor can do so and become the new leader, whereupon the Blades promptly swear their loyalty.