History Main / OpportunisticBastard

Hierarchically they could be anyone from a minor character to the BigBad himself. Compare/contrast TheChessmaster. See also ManipulativeBastard and XanatosSpeedChess. Can easily become a WildCard. Likely to be a DirtyCoward or to suffer from ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Might belong to LesCollaborateurs or even become TheQuisling. But he personifies the 12th of UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems.

Hierarchically they could be anyone from a minor character to the BigBad himself. Compare/contrast TheChessmaster. See also ManipulativeBastard and XanatosSpeedChess. Can easily become a WildCard. Likely to be a DirtyCoward or to suffer from ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Might belong to LesCollaborateurs or even become TheQuisling. But he personifies the 12th of TheThirtySixStratagems.

Opportunists of this type are usually motivated only by their own self-interest. If their actions do benefit someone else, it's either accidental, or because that person belongs to the select group of people that our opportunist actually cares about. Similarly, they are rarely loyal to any cause larger than their personal self-advancement; if an Opportunistic Bastard has an ideology, it is likely to be ill-defined, self-serving, and/or shallow. As a result, this character is liable to be an {{antihero}} at best, and outright villain at worst.

** [[SmallNameBigEgo Marillion]], [[TheBard a bard]], shows what can happen if you only have the skills to partially follow through. He manages to ButtMonkey his way into Catelyn's entourage at same time Bronn spots his chance. From there, he successfully becomes the court minstrel of the Eyrie when [[ProfessionalButtKisser he flatters]] Lysa Arryn enough. Unfortunately, he's an [[SmugSnake unlikable]] SlimeBall who manages to make himself so [[HateSink thoroughly disliked]] by most of the nobles of the Vale that, when he is made a scapegoat to facilitate a regime change, ''nobody'' cares to look too hard into it, let alone question it.

** [[SmallNameBigEgo Marillion]], [[TheBard a bard]], shows what can happen if you only have the skills to partially follow through. He manages to ButtMonkey his way into Catelyn's entourage at same time Bronn spots his chance. From there, he successfully becomes the court minstrel of the Eyrie when [[ProfesionalButtKisser he flatters]] Lysa Arryn enough. Unfortunately, he's an [[SmugSnake unlikable]] SlimeBall who manages to make himself so [[HateSink thoroughly disliked]] by most of the nobles of the Vale that, when he is made a scapegoat to facilitate a regime change, nobody cares to look too hard into it.

** Marillion, [[TheBard a bard]], shows what can happen if you only have the skills to partially follow through. He manages to ButtMonkey his way in to Catelyn's entourage at same time Bronn spots his chance. From there, he successfully becomes the court minstrel of the Eyrie when [[ProffesionalButtKisser he flatters]] Lyssa Arryn enough. Unfortunately, he's an unlikable SlimeBall who manages to make himself so [[HateSink thoroughly disliked]] by most of the nobles of the Vale that when he is made a Scapegoat to facilitate a regime change, nobody cares.

** Petyr Baelish manages to be both this ''and'' TheChessmaster. He concocts elaborate [[ThePlan plans]], plots and counterplots like TheChessmaster; yet, never misses a beat when one or more of them get disrupted, and adapts so quickly and smoothly that it appears to be JustAsPlanned. And, most of his plots are aimed at nothing more or less than ''causing more chaos'', because a destabilized realm [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste allows for more upward mobility]] for a suitably flexible and opportunistic man such as himself. Heck, he'll even make plans to counter other plans of his... just to keep others confused as to what he's actually aiming at acquiring.

* Darth Malak from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', who attempted to dispose of his former master Darth Revan by ordering his ship to fire on Revan's vessel while the latter was distracted. Despite Revan apparently perishing in the attack and Malak becoming the undisputed Dark Lord of the Sith, it's also established that the other Sith don't respect him since his actions are quite contrary to Sith principles: victories are supposed to show superior strength or cunning, thus strengthening the Sith as a whole; whereas cheap shots like Malak's only encourage ChronicBackstabbingDisorder which would prevent ''anything'' from getting done.

* The Joker in''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is closer to this, despite being painted as playing XanatosSpeedChess. By his own admission, the Joker doesn't have a plan but prefers to just do things that screw with people the most. Initially he wants to expose and kill the Batman along with killing Harvey Dent, until he changes his mind and decides to break Harvey's and Batman's spirit instead. He even goes to great lengths to stop Batman being exposed by trying to have killed the one guy who knows. Then he decides to kill his employers in the mob and burn their money because they're getting in the way of his fun.
** On the whole though the Joker is not particularly opportunistic doing it all for fun and is really good at improvising plans and would never just follow another person's plan since he loves giving his own ''touch''.

* Malty of ''LightNovel/TateNoYuushaNoNariagari'' has a habit of jumping on any opportunity for amusement, revenge, or personal gain without considering the consequences fully. As this usually [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder comes at the expense of her comrades]] she makes a lot of enemies while gradually increasing the potential rewards if she succeeds. This escalates from getting a better Hero while stealing Naofumi's money to [[spoiler:killing her sister to gain the throne, killing her ''family'' to gain the throne, and finally killing her family ''and'' the Heroes for world]].

* EnigmaticMinion Char Aznable from the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' is a competent planner, and is able to stay a step ahead of most people, but he's more of a short-term opportunist than a long-term schemer, and more often than not is flying by the seat of his pants. He has the vague goal of "eliminate the Zabis" but no real plan for doing it--instead he just hangs around with them, hoping to get the chance to murder them. He hangs around with Garma Zabi, and is able to betray him, leading to his death in battle. He then just bounces around from commander to commander and mission to mission until the very end of the show when he's able to take a shot at Kycilia Zabi, who by then (no thanks to Char) is the only Zabi left. He spends most of ''[[MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]'' hoping the AEUG will force the world to follow his father's philosophy without him having to lead it; when things go south, he abandons the cause after his defeat by Haman Khan. Even in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack CCA]]'', when he does take power in Neo-Zeon, it's not through planning--he just waits until everybody else with a claim to the throne (Haman Khan, Glemmy Toto, Mineva Zabi) is dead or in hiding, and declares himself leader.

* EnigmaticMinion Char Aznable from the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' is a competent planner, and is able to stay a step ahead of most people, but he's more of a short-term opportunist than a long-term schemer, and more often than not is flying by the seat of his pants. He has the vague goal of "eliminate the Zabis" but no real plan for doing it--instead he just hangs around with them, hoping to get the chance to murder them. He hangs around with Garma Zabi, and is able to betray him, leading to his death in battle. He then just bounces around from commander to commander and mission to mission until the very end of the show when he's able to take a shot at Kycilia Zabi, who by then (no thanks to Char) is the only Zabi left. He spends most of ''[[MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]'' hoping the AEUG will force the world to follow his father's philosophy without him having to lead it; when things go south, he abandons the cause after his defeat by Haman Khan. Even in ''[[CharsCounterattack CCA]]'', when he does take power in Neo-Zeon, it's not through planning--he just waits until everybody else with a claim to the throne (Haman Khan, Glemmy Toto, Mineva Zabi) is dead or in hiding, and declares himself leader.

Hierarchically they could be anyone from a minor character to the BigBad himself. Compare/contrast TheChessmaster. See also ManipulativeBastard and XanatosSpeedChess. Can easily become a WildCard. Likely to be a DirtyCoward or to suffer from ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Might belong to LesCollaborateurs or even become TheQuisling.

* Sylvester, the narrator of ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' is fundamentally this, but tries to act as TheChessmaster, often to his detriment. A twelve-year-old TykeBomb created with the ability to plot but not the ability to strategize, he has severe difficulty setting realistic goals and if often distracted by other objectives which he makes up on the spot, such as getting himself and his fellows official badges or making sure that the VillainOfTheWeek respects him as an adversary. Even if he has a goal in mind, he'll often try for everything at once and get nothing.

** Petyr Baelish manages to be both this ''and'' TheChessmaster. He concocts elaborate [[ThePlan plans]] and plots like TheChessmaster, but never misses a beat when they're disrupted, but adapts so quickly and smoothly that it appears to be JustAsPlanned. And most of his plots aimed at nothing more or less than ''causing more chaos'', because a destabilized realm [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste allows for more upward mobility]] for a suitably flexible and opportunistic man such as himself.

** Petyr Baelish manages to be both this ''and'' TheChessmaster. He concocts elaborate [[ThePlan plans]] and plots like TheChessmaster, but never misses a beat when they're disrupted, but adapts so quickly and smoothly that it appears to be JustAsPlanned. And most of his plots aimed at nothing more or less than ''causing more chaos'', because a destabilized realm allows for more upward mobility for a suitably flexible and opportunistic man such as himself.

* Dimitri Rascalov of ''{{VideoGame/Grand Theft Auto IV}}'', a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder man with serious loyalty issues]] starts as the number 2 to the unstable Russian gangster Mikhail Faustin. When protagonist Nico Bellic shows up, Dimitri takes his chance to manipulate Nico into murdering Mikhail so Dimitri can take over. He then tries to have Nico killed as well by quickly allying with Ray Bulgarin, an old enemy of Nico's. Dimitri spends the rest of the game getting friendly with those who can aid his pursuit of wealth and power, and will betray anyone in an instant if he finds a better opportunity in it.

* Char Aznable in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' is a competent planner, and is able to stay a step ahead of most people, but he's more of a short-term opportunist than a long-term schemer, and more often than not is flying by the seat of his pants. He has the vague goal of "eliminate the Zabis" but no real plan for doing it--instead he just hangs around with them, hoping to get the chance to murder them. He hangs around with Garma Zabi, and is able to betray him, leading to his death in battle. He then just bounces around from commander to commander and mission to mission until the very end of the show when he's able to take a shot at Kycilia Zabi, who by then (no thanks to Char) is the only Zabi left. He spends most of ''[[MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]'' dodging responsibility, and hoping the AEUG will force the world to follow his father's philosophy without him having to lead it; when things go south, he abandons the cause after his defeat by Haman Khan. Even in ''[[CharsCounterattack CCA]]'', when he does take power in Neo-Zeon, it's not through planning--he just waits until everybody else with a claim to the throne (Haman Khan, Glemmy Toto, Mineva Zabi) is dead or in hiding, and declares himself leader.

** Season 5's Daryl Crowe Jr. is described as such by his right-hand man, Jean-Baptiste, who comments on Daryl's penchant for finding employ with someone else, and then making their business his. He did this to the Muchado family's sugar smuggling operation in Florida. After coming to Kentucky he first tries to take over his cousin Dewey's brothel, leading to conflict with Boyd Crowder, then hires himself out to Boyd as an enforcer. Most recently, while on a job for Boyd in Mexico, he and his brother Danny have sabotaged Boyd's operation for as yet unrevealed reasons. If anything, this unpredictability, and general lack of attention to detail makes Daryl ''more'' dangerous, as nobody can really anticipate how he'll try to take advantage of the situation, only that he will.

* ''Series/BlackSails'' has John Silver (later to be known as "Long" John Silver) who is a self described opportunist and will latch onto any chance to advance his position or at least keep himself from getting killed. When told that in a few months [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness his usefulness will be gone and he will probably be killed]] he merely sees this as a time to make friends with his captors. Most of the other major characters have some sort of plan or goal they are working toward but Silver simply jumps at any opportunity that presents itself and goes where it takes him.

* Darth Malak from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', who attempted to dispose of his former master Darth Revan by ordering his ship to fire on Revan's vessel while the latter was distracted. Despite Revan apparently perishing in the attack and Malak becoming the undisputed Dark Lord of the Sith, it's also established that the other Sith don't respect him since his actions are quite contrary to Sith principles: victories are supposed to show superior strength or cunning, thus strengthening the Sith as a whole; whereas cheap shots like Malak's only encourage ChronicBastabbingDisorder which would prevent ''anything'' from getting done.

* Queen Anora from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' will [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate]] or [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstab]] anyone so long as it satisfies her two goals: remaining in power and [[DaddysGirl securing the physical safety of her father, Loghain.]] Being a choice-based game, there are a number of options for how Anora will react if certain decisions are made. Should the PlayerCharacter, the Warden, decide to back her at the Landsmeet, she will turn against her father, the regent, to secure power for herself. However, should the Warden decide to back [[spoiler:Alistair]] instead, she will betray the Warden and side with her father, despite the fact Loghain had arranged her husband's death, conducted numerous evil actions, and doing so risked a civil war in Ferelden even as [[BigBad the Archdemon]] led [[TheHorde the Darkspawn]] to RapePillageAndBurn the country. In order to preserve her political power, Anora will also go through with political marriages, such as she will to a Noble Human Grey Warden, seeing him as a popular figure. She'd even go so far as to [[spoiler:marry Alistair, the bastard brother of her beloved, late husband]], the very same man she'd also [[spoiler:order executed for being a threat to her in another possible play through where she rules alone]]. Anora has no master plan to get her way and few scruples, she'll simply latch on to anyone who is most likely to give her the power she wants and do as they ask in return. The one exception to this is [[spoiler:marrying whoever personally executes her father.]] [[EveryoneHasStandards That is the one thing she will not do no matter the benefits.]]