History Main / OverzealousUnderling

* In ''Saturnalia'', the fifth volume of John Maddox Roberts's SPQR series, [[spoiler:Lucius Calpurnius Bestia]] admits to poisoning Decius' uncle, Metellus Celer, because of Celer's political opposition to Pompey the Great. When Decius asks whether Pompey actually ordered Celer killed, [[spoiler:Bestia]] responds, ''"you know how one serves great men, Decius: Try to do what they want, especially the less savory tasks, without waiting for them to tell you to. That way their hands stay clean, but they are aware of how much they owe you."''

-->'''Pagan:''' I distinctly remember staying ''stop'' the bus. Yes, ''stop'' the bus. Not ''shoot'' the bus. I'm [[ExactWords very particular with my words]]. ''Stop''. ''Shoot''. ''STOP''. ''Shoot''. [[SarcasmMode Do those words sound the same]]?\\

* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': In "The Oath of the Five Lords", an MI5 agent is certain UsefulNotes/TELawrence (aka Film/LawrenceOfArabia) is betraying his country, having seen him in the company of foreign operatives. The agent (who's also jealous and resentful of Lawrence) inducts a young Henry Blake (who idolizes Lawrence) to unwittingly help him murder Lawrence for his betrayal... who it turns out was infiltrating on his superiors' orders. Oops.

* ''Offline TV and Friends'': This is what caused the semi-infamous "Babushka Incident" during a game of ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' that would be immortalized in the animation ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie''. A group of OTV streamers and associated [=YouTubers=][[note]](this particular group consisting of LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}}, Creator/{{Sykkuno}}, Creator/CorpseHusband, WebVideo/{{Jacksepticeye}}, Fuslie, [=BrookeAB=], Quarter Jade, [=TinaKitten=], Masayoshi and Disguised Toast)[[/note]] were playing ''Among Us'' with proximity chat so they can hear each other talking while doing tasks, and in one round, Creator/{{Sykkuno}} reveals to LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}} that he's an impostor and offers to kill other players for her at her command, with the two working out the code word of "babushka" as Rae's TriggerPhrase to get Sykkuno to kill. Things would go off the rails next round. This time, both Rae and Sykkuno are impostors, and the round begins with Sykkuno going away from his keyboard for a bathroom break while a group of players [[DramaticIrony surround him to protect him from being killed by an impostor while he's not at the controls]]. While waiting, Rae explains how she and Sykkuno formed the earlier alliance and Sykkuno was supposed to kill for her upon hearing "babushka". Sykkuno returns at just the right time to hear her say that, and rather than play it cool since they are surrounded by too many people to kill everyone, or try to covertly make sure it was a legitimate use of the code word before acting, he immediately kills the nearest person, even though the goal of ''Among Us'' impostors is to kill ''in secret'', and again, they're surrounded by too many witnesses to eliminate them all. Unusually for this trope, rather than causing a disaster, it all actually works out: due to a series of improbable circumstances and perfect coincidence[[note]]after overcoming her initial shock, Rae acts quickly and kills Jack while he's still laughing at the insanity and then gets Corpse — who had just been promising to make up for a betrayal in the previous round-to agree not to report the bodies and stay put. Toast and Fuslie [[DeliciousDistraction spend the entire round in hiding putting together a restaurant order]], effectively removing themselves from the game, which lets Rae and Sykkuno murder the remaining three players scattered throughout the map one by one until only Corpse (still playing along), Toast, and Fuslie are left alive besides the killers. At that point, Sykkuno leads Rae to the hiding spot Toast and Fuslie are using, which he accidentally discovered earlier (and where they are ''still'' putting together their food order, completely oblivious to the chaos), and Rae promptly kills Toast to seal the victory[[/note]], Rae and Sykkuno win the round. Watch the round [[https://youtu.be/WzIygALa6a0?t=644 here]], or the animated version [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U here.]]

* ''WebVideo/AfterlifeSMP'': After being told by resident CardCarryingVillain Vampire Scott to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten steal something of Joel's to join the 'villains' club]], Lauren takes it one step further by ''kidnapping Lizzie'', Joel's real-life wife who described herself as his most prized possession. When Scott returns to Lauren's house to check in on her, he initially thinks [[LampshadeHanging Lauren took it further than he'd expected]], as he thought just stealing an object would suffice... [[spoiler:and when Lauren asks if killing Lizzie would be evil enough to suffice membership in the club, Scott somewhat-hesitantly approves it, causing Lauren to activate the trap to kill Lizzie.]]

* ''WebVideo/AfterlifeSMP'': After being told by Vampire Scott to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten steal something of Joel's to join the 'villains' club]], Lauren takes it one step further by ''kidnapping Lizzie'', Joel's real-life wife who described herself as his most prized possession. When Scott returns to Lauren's house to check in on her, he initially thinks [[LampshadeHanging Lauren took it further than he'd expected]], as he thought just stealing an object would suffice... [[spoiler:and when Lauren asks if killing Lizzie would be evil enough to suffice membership in the club, Scott somewhat-hesitantly approves it, causing Lauren to activate the trap to kill Lizzie.]]

* ''WebVideo/AfterlifeSMP'': After being told by Vampire Scott to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten steal something of Joel's to join the 'villains' club]], Lauren takes it one step further by kidnapping Lizzie, Joel's real-life wife who described herself as his most prized possession. When Scott returns to Lauren's house to check in on her, he initially thinks [[LampshadeHanging Lauren took it further than he'd expected]], as he thought just stealing an object would suffice... [[spoiler:and when Lauren asks if killing Lizzie would be evil enough to suffice membership in the club, Scott somewhat-hesitantly approves it, causing Lauren to activate the trap to kill Lizzie.]]

* ''Offline TV and Friends'':
** This is what caused the semi-infamous "Babushka Incident" during a game of ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' that would be immortalized in the animation ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie''. A group of OTV streamers and associated [=YouTubers=][[note]](this particular group consisting of LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}}, Creator/{{Sykkuno}}, Creator/CorpseHusband, WebVideo/{{Jacksepticeye}}, Fuslie, [=BrookeAB=], Quarter Jade, [=TinaKitten=], Masayoshi and Disguised Toast)[[/note]] were playing ''Among Us'' with proximity chat so they can hear each other talking while doing tasks, and in one round, Creator/{{Sykkuno}} reveals to LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}} that he's an impostor and offers to kill other players for her at her command, with the two working out the code word of "babushka" as Rae's TriggerPhrase to get Sykkuno to kill. Things would go off the rails next round. This time, both Rae and Sykkuno are impostors, and the round begins with Sykkuno going away from his keyboard for a bathroom break while a group of players [[DramaticIrony surround him to protect him from being killed by an impostor while he's not at the controls]]. While waiting, Rae explains how she and Sykkuno formed the earlier alliance and Sykkuno was supposed to kill for her upon hearing "babushka". Sykkuno returns at just the right time to hear her say that, and rather than play it cool since they are surrounded by too many people to kill everyone, or try to covertly make sure it was a legitimate use of the code word before acting, he immediately kills the nearest person, even though the goal of ''Among Us'' impostors is to kill ''in secret'', and again, they're surrounded by too many witnesses to eliminate them all. Unusually for this trope, rather than causing a disaster, it all actually works out: due to a series of improbable circumstances and perfect coincidence[[note]]after overcoming her initial shock, Rae acts quickly and kills Jack while he's still laughing at the insanity and then gets Corpse — who had just been promising to make up for a betrayal in the previous round-to agree not to report the bodies and stay put. Toast and Fuslie [[DeliciousDistraction spend the entire round in hiding putting together a restaurant order]], effectively removing themselves from the game, which lets Rae and Sykkuno murder the remaining three players scattered throughout the map one by one until only Corpse (still playing along), Toast, and Fuslie are left alive besides the killers. At that point, Sykkuno leads Rae to the hiding spot Toast and Fuslie are using, which he accidentally discovered earlier (and where they are ''still'' putting together their food order, completely oblivious to the chaos), and Rae promptly kills Toast to seal the victory[[/note]], Rae and Sykkuno win the round. Watch the round [[https://youtu.be/WzIygALa6a0?t=644 here]], or the animated version [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U here.]]
--->'''Sykkuno:''' ''[panicking in the chaos after the first killings]'' I heard the code word! I heard the code word!\\

** This is what caused the semi-infamous "Babushka Incident" during a game of ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' that would be immortalized in the animation ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie''. A group of OTV streamers and associated [=YouTubers=][[note]](this particular group consisting of LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}}, Creator/{{Sykkuno}}, Creator/CorpseHusband, WebVideo/{{Jacksepticeye}}, Fuslie, [=BrookeAB=], Quarter Jade, [=TinaKitten=], Masayoshi and Disguised Toast)[[/note]] were playing ''Among Us'' with proximity chat so they can hear each other talking while doing tasks, and in one round, Creator/{{Sykkuno}} reveals to LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}} that he's an imposter and offers to kill other players for her at her command, with the two working out the code word of "babushka" as Rae's TriggerPhrase to get Sykkuno to kill. Things would go off the rails next round. This time both Rae and Sykkuno are imposters, and the round begins with Sykkuno going away from his keyboard for a bathroom break while a group of players [[DramaticIrony surround him to protect him from being killed by an imposter while he's not at the controls]]. While waiting, Rae explains how she and Sykkuno formed the earlier alliance and Sykkuno was supposed to kill for her upon hearing "babushka". Sykkuno returns at just the right time to hear her say that, and rather than play it cool since they are surrounded by too many people to kill everyone, or try to covertly make sure it was a legitimate use of the code word before acting, he immediately kills the nearest person, even though the goal of ''Among Us'' imposters is to kill in ''secret'', and again, they're surrounded by too many witnesses to eliminate them all. Unusually for this trope, rather than causing a disaster, it all actually works out: due to a series of improbable circumstances and perfect coincidence,[[note]]after overcoming her initial shock, Rae acts quickly and kills Jack while he's still laughing at the insanity and then gets Corpse—who had just been promising to make up for a betrayal in the previous round-to agree not to report the bodies and stay put. Toast and Fuslie spend the entire round in hiding putting together a restaurant order, effectively removing themselves from the game, which lets Rae and Sykkuno murder the remaining three players scattered throughout the map one by one until only Corpse (still playing along), Toast, and Fuslie are left alive besides the killers. At that point Sykkuno leads Rae to the hiding spot Toast and Fuslie are using, which he accidentally discovered earlier (and where they are ''still'' putting together their food order, completely oblivious to the chaos), and Rae promptly kills Toast to seal the victory[[/note]] Rae and Sykkuno win the round. Watch the round [[https://youtu.be/WzIygALa6a0?t=644 here]], or the animated version [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U here]].

'''Valkyrae:''' You heard the code word, yeah that was very... you acted very quickly, but ''there were five people here''! So we, you know, we gotta be a little bit more-- ''[trails off]''

** In the Indigo League series, Ash makes the mistake of showing antipathy towards the gym leader Erika's perfume. Her assistants lambast him furiously and kick him out the store. Later he finds the same aggression at her gym, with the guards banning him from entry for hating perfume. He manages to reach Erika through disguise and, despite her earlier annoyance with Ash, she still gladly battles.

* In ''Saturnalia'', the fifth volume of John Maddox Roberts's SPQR series, [[spoiler:Lucius Calpurnius Bestia]] admits to poisoning Decius' uncle, Metellus Celer, because of Celer's political opposition to Pompey the Great. When Decius asks whether Pompey actually ordered Celer killed, [[spoiler:Bestia]] responds, ''"you known how one serves great men, Decius: Try to do what they want, especially the less savory tasks, without waiting for them to tell you to. That way their hands stay clean, but they are aware of how much they owe you."''

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': After Fudge orders the ''Daily Prophet'' to libel Harry as a delusional attention-seeker for claiming that Voldemort returned, Umbridge takes it on herself to ensure his silence by siccing Dementors on him. As she puts it, what he (Fudge) doesn't know won't hurt him, which means that he cares about the result and doesn't have to deal with any kind of qualm that he may have had. While Fudge is forced to admit that Voldemort is back, having seen him with his own eyes, she isn't punished for this as it is never officially proven, staying with the Ministry until she is finally sent off to Azkaban after Voldemort's defeat.

** This is what caused the semi-infamous "Babushka Incident" during a game of ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' that would be immortalized in the animation ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie''. A group of OTV streamers and associated [=YouTubers=][[note]](this particular group consisting of LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}}, Creator/{{Sykkuno}}, Creator/CorpseHusband, LetsPlay/{{Jacksepticeye}}, Fuslie, [=BrookeAB=], Quarter Jade, [=TinaKitten=], Masayoshi and Disguised Toast)[[/note]] were playing ''Among Us'' with proximity chat so they can hear each other talking while doing tasks, and in one round, Creator/{{Sykkuno}} reveals to LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}} that he's an imposter and offers to kill other players for her at her command, with the two working out the code word of "babushka" as Rae's TriggerPhrase to get Sykkuno to kill. Things would go off the rails next round. This time both Rae and Sykkuno are imposters, and the round begins with Sykkuno going away from his keyboard for a bathroom break while a group of players [[DramaticIrony surround him to protect him from being killed by an imposter while he's not at the controls]]. While waiting, Rae explains how she and Sykkuno formed the earlier alliance and Sykkuno was supposed to kill for her upon hearing "babushka". Sykkuno returns at just the right time to hear her say that, and rather than play it cool since they are surrounded by too many people to kill everyone, or try to covertly make sure it was a legitimate use of the code word before acting, he immediately kills the nearest person, even though the goal of ''Among Us'' imposters is to kill in ''secret'', and again, they're surrounded by too many witnesses to eliminate them all. Unusually for this trope, rather than causing a disaster, it all actually works out: due to a series of improbable circumstances and perfect coincidence,[[note]]after overcoming her initial shock, Rae acts quickly and kills Jack while he's still laughing at the insanity and then gets Corpse—who had just been promising to make up for a betrayal in the previous round-to agree not to report the bodies and stay put. Toast and Fuslie spend the entire round in hiding putting together a restaurant order, effectively removing themselves from the game, which lets Rae and Sykkuno murder the remaining three players scattered throughout the map one by one until only Corpse (still playing along), Toast, and Fuslie are left alive besides the killers. At that point Sykkuno leads Rae to the hiding spot Toast and Fuslie are using, which he accidentally discovered earlier (and where they are ''still'' putting together their food order, completely oblivious to the chaos), and Rae promptly kills Toast to seal the victory[[/note]] Rae and Sykkuno win the round. Watch the round [[https://youtu.be/WzIygALa6a0?t=644 here]], or the animated version [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U here]].

* One of these kicks off the entire plot of ''Film/NavySEALs''. Terrorists attack and sink a freighter with a gunboat. Captain of the freighter sends a message pleading for help. A nearby USN carrier sends a helicopter to rescue the freighter's crewmen. Had the terrorist gunboat just slunk away, letting the helicopter rescue the doomed crewmen, no one would have been the wiser about the terrorist group's plans. Instead, the commander of the gunboat shoots the helicopter down and captures the aircrew. His superior, the BigBad is understandably pissed and orders the aircrew to be immediately executed, before their activities are compromised. Fortunately, a SEAL platoon gets there just in time to rescue the aircrew. That platoon also discovers that not only is this group in possession of Stinger missiles, but also that their leader is Lebanon's most infamous terrorist. The SEAL platoon relentlessly pursue the terrorists and the Stingers for the whole rest of the movie.

** ''Literature/TheSignOfFour'': Small's accomplice is an Andaman native who thought he was carrying out Small's orders by killing Sholto (all Small wanted was to find the treasure Sholto's father had stolen from him), and is entirely surprised when Small lashes out at him.

* ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'': Tone is the right-hand man of Cottonmouth (who demands to referred to as "Mr. Stokes"). He is so aggressively loyal to his boss that when Shades shows up (speaking on behalf of a much more powerful criminal) and doesn't show Cottonmouth the proper respect, Tone makes things difficult by threatening Shades. Later, when the traitor Chico is found, Cottonmouth learns that he's hiding in the barber shop where Luke Cage and his friend/mentor, Pop, work. Cottonmouth is an old friend of Pop and respects his rules that the barber shop is neutral ground; Tone thinks that this makes his boss look weak, so he goes against orders and shoots up the entire shop, accidentally killing Pop while ''still'' failing to kill the target they were after. This move is so poorly thought-out that not only does Cottonmouth become enraged by his friend's death, but this act is the IncitingIncident that leads to Luke Cage rising up against crime in Harlem. For this and an accidental show of disrespect by calling Stokes "Cottonmouth" to his face, Tone gets thrown off the roof of Harlem's Paradise.

Compare PsychoSupporter, TragicallyMisguidedFavor, JustFollowingOrders (what the underling thinks they're doing), YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame (if the underling thought this was the best way to carry out the boss' wishes), RhetoricalRequestBlunder (when the order was stated but was never intended to be carried out in the first place), UnderlingWithAnFInPR (where the underling doesn't care about the repercussions of their actions), BetterToKillThanFrighten (a subtrope where orders to intimidate someone are turned into orders to kill them) and GoneHorriblyRight.

** This is what caused the semi-infamous "[[WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie Babushka Incident]]" during a game of ''VideoGame/AmongUs''. A group of OTV's streamers and [=YouTubers=] (this particular group consisting of LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}}, Creator/{{Sykkuno}}, Creator/CorpseHusband, LetsPlay/{{Jacksepticeye}}, Fuslie, [=BrookeAB=], Quarter Jade, [=TinaKitten=], Masayoshi and Disguised Toast), were playing ''Among Us'' with proximity chat, and in one round, Sykkuno reveals to Rae that he's an imposter and offers to kill other players at her command, with the two working out the code word of "babushka" as Rae's TriggerPhrase to get Sykkuno to kill.[[note]]Unfortunately for the two of them the arrangement didn't work out very well; the first time Rae orders Sykkuno to kill another player, she is also (perhaps accidentally) killed at the same time by the round's other imposter, Corpse—despite the fact that Corpse was supposed to be in on their partnership.[[/note]]
** Things go off the rails next round: both Rae and Sykkuno are imposters, and the round begins with Sykkuno going away from his keyboard for a bathroom break while a group of players [[DramaticIrony surround him to protect him from being killed by an imposter while he's not at the controls]]. While waiting, Rae explains how she and Sykkuno formed the earlier alliance and Sykkuno was supposed to kill for her upon hearing "babushka". Sykkuno returns at ''exactly'' that moment, and upon hearing Rae say "babushka", immediately kills Tina, despite the fact that ''Among Us'' is supposed to be about getting away with murder in ''secret'' if you're playing as an imposter; all told, [[ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination Sykkuno was surrounded by]] ''[[ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination five]]'' [[ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination people when he killed Tina]]. Unusually for this trope, rather than causing a disaster, it all actually works out: due to a series of improbable circumstance and perfect coincidence,[[note]]After overcoming her initial shock, Rae acts quickly and kills Jack while he's still laughing at the insanity and then gets Corpse—who had just been promising to make up for the previous round's betrayal—to agree not to report the bodies and stay put. Toast and Fuslie spend the entire round in hiding putting together a restaurant order, effectively removing themselves from the game, which lets Rae and Sykkuno murder the remaining three players one by one until only Corpse (still playing along), Toast, and Fuslie are left alive. At that point Sykkuno leads Rae to the latter two's hiding spot, which he accidentally discovered earlier (and where they are ''still'' putting together their food order, completely oblivious to the chaos), and Rae promptly kills Toast to seal the victory[[/note]] Rae and Sykkuno win the round, although the whole thing does leave Rae a NervousWreck and apparently on the edge of a VillainousBreakdown. Watch the round [[https://youtu.be/WzIygALa6a0?t=644 here]], or in animatic form [[https://youtu.be/3JmGQTMvO-U here]].

* This is a recurring problem for many sides in both ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and its TV adaption ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
** Tywin Lannister loves [[TheDreaded the terror inspired]] by his [[TheBrute brute]] [[WorldsStrongestMan Gregor Clegane]]. Mostly Tywin sends Gregor out to add onto that reputation by doing all the thug work for the Lannisters, meaning a whole lot of RapePillageAndBurn. Gregor is ''so'' enthusiastic in these tasks that it sometimes backfires: multiple characters note that Gregor is [[AxCrazy too bloodthirsty and sadistic]] to take highborn captives, often killing them just because when he could get rich ransoms for them or use them strategically as hostages. And Gregor's needless rape and murder of Princess Elia years before the start of the story drove one of Elia's brothers to carefully plot to overthrow and destroy the Lannisters and everything they care about, while the other brother would eventually give Gregor a poisoned spear in the gut that caused him to die slowly and in horrific agony.
** In the book, Robb Stark's uncle Edmure disobeys orders to stay put (orders which are admittedly vague) and decides to move his army to block Tywin Lannister's army from crossing a river, repelling the large force with minimal losses in a series of minor skirmishes. Edmure believes he's doing the right thing by his nephew and that it was the only reasonable course based on what he knew, but this prevents Tywin from crossing the river and being caught in an ambush where Robb might have been able to crush the entire army. In the TV adaption he acts on his own initiative and wins a PyrrhicVictory against Gregor Clegane instead, but Clegane and most of his force escape and it ruins a trap Robb had planned for Clegane.

Compare PsychoSupporter, TragicallyMisguidedFavor, JustFollowingOrders (what the underling thinks they're doing), YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame (if the underling thought this was the best way to carry out the boss' wishes), RhetoricalRequestBlunder (when the order was stated but was never intended to be carried out in the first place), UnderlingWithAnFInPR (where the underling doesn't care about the repercussions of their actions) and GoneHorriblyRight.