History Main / PraetorianGuard

* A number of the Primarchs in the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' series have Praetorian guards of one stripe or another - Fulgrim's Phoenix Guard, Ferrus Manus's Morlocks, Mortarion's Deathshroud, Sanguinius's Sanguinary Guard (not yet appearing on the page, but the recent re-release of the Blood Angels codex includes them). There are probably others, whose primarchs have not had their day in the limelight yet. Some definitely don't these, though, in particular thus far, Horus, Russ[[note]]well, strictly speaking, he had the Wolf Guard, but they seemed to be used more as his public [[TheFoil foil]], rather than as a bodyguard[[/note]] and Magnus. The Emperor's are the most badass of all though - the Adeptus Custodes. And that ignores all the army commanders who have their own, including the infamous Lucifer Blacks in ''Legion'' whose leader is possibly the single most BadassNormal in the entire setting, after fencing a primarch to a standstill with an unpowered sabre, and wounding him.

** Note that the Praetorian Guard mentioned in Imperial histories is ''not'' this trope, instead being a [[{{FilmZulu}} pith-helmeted, red-coated]] Imperial Guard regiment from the planet Praetoria.

** Note that the Praetorian Guard mentioned in Imperial histories is ''not'' this trope, instead being a pith-helmeted, red-coated Imperial Guard regiment from the planet Praetoria.

** One sourcebook mentions an equivalent to the Varangian Guard, where wealthy merchants and aristocrats hire Norscan mercenaries as bodyguards. As Norscan are Chaos worshippers, this is a very bad idea that only the stupidest or pompous noble would try out. [[UpperClassTwit Too bad that describes the vast majority of Imperial aristocracy...]]

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Dark Crusade'' has the Honor Guard units in the campaign. They are earned by conquering certain territories and are essentially a beefed-up version of regular units or sometimes (in case of unique and vehicle units) a regular unit that doesn't count into the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit.

* In Christopher Ruocchio's ''The Sun Eater'', the hostile alien Cielcins have an alliance with renegade human technologists. The Cielcins are already superhumanly strong and fast, but their Extrasolarian allies then create cyborg SuperSoldiers from them, called Chimeras. The Chimeras have an adamant, further enhanced strength and speed plus a number of built-in weapons. Then there are 6 special Chimeras...these are the Vayadan. The 6 Vayadan are further enhanced (the first one encountered was 30 feet tall and a living siege engine that could tear through fortress walls) and directly serve the Cielcin's "King of Kings" as its bodyguard and generals.

** Most Headquarters units have the option of purchasing bodyguards, be it a cadre of hand-picked Space Marine veterans, a mob of Ork Nobz, a Chaos warlord's Chosen, the disgusting little Nurglings that carry a demonic palanquin, the Tyranids' Tyrant Guards (literally bio-engineered to be walking meat shields), the Royal Court of a Necron Overlord and their Lychguard Bodyguards, an Imperial Guard CO's Command Squad, or the lethal Incubi of the Dark Eldar (who come from outside the Kabal and are therefore unlikely to [[TheStarscream try to usurp power]]). In most cases, these units spend the game with their commander, but in certain armies, they can be split up to act as leaders for other squads.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The Draconis Combine's Otomo and the Capellan [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Death Commandos]]. The former may do more actual bodyguard work while the latter have plenty of other tasks to perform as well, but in both cases their loyalty is first and foremost directly to their respective House Lord. The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Clans]] have their "Keshik" units, which serve this function for their Khans.

* During the presidency of Salvador Allende, he had the Group of Personal friends as his guard. [[HoldTheLine They took]] [[LastStand a stand]] when Allende's [[EvilFormerFriend most]] [[WithFriendsLikeThese trust]][[EtTuBrute ed]] [[TheUsurper general]] lead the rest of the country's armed forces in a bid to overthrow Allende. After Allende's suicide, the organization was dissolved, and it's membership was executed by the new government.

* ''[[Videogame/Blasphemous]:'' The Anointed Legion is a pious brotherhood of elite knights and warriors created by decree of His Holiness Escribar to [[ChurchMilitant fight in his name and the Church]], serving as his bodyguards.

Sometimes overlaps with EliteMooks, SuperpoweredMooks, and AmazonBrigade when they are BodyguardBabes. If they are generally recruited from another nation, they are a CadreOfForeignBodyguards. If they never actually go into a fight, then it's just {{palette swap}}ped normal infantry (the real Praetorian Guard ''were'' palette-swapped standard legionaries; they wore nice purple tunics). May or may not be under the control of StateSec. If they have sufficiently developed individual appearances, abilities, or characterization, they will likely serve as a (if a contender for ''the'' strongest) QuirkyMinibossSquad. When they appear as enemies in video games, they will nearly always be the most EliteMooks available. Subsequently, the odds are good that you're near the end of the SortingAlgorithimOfEvil, and the FinalBoss is coming up.

Sometimes overlaps with EliteMooks, SuperpoweredMooks, and AmazonBrigade when they are BodyguardBabes. If they are generally recruited from another nation, they are a CadreOfForeignBodyguards. If they never actually go into a fight, then it's just {{palette swap}}ped normal infantry (the real Praetorian Guard ''were'' palette-swapped standard legionaries; they wore nice purple tunics). May or may not be under the control of StateSec. If they have sufficiently developed individual appearances, abilities, or characterization, they will likely serve as a (if a contender for ''the'' strongest) QuirkyMinibossSquad.

* ''[[Videogame/Blasphemous]:'' The Anointed Legion is a brotherhood of elite knights and warriors created by decree of His Holiness Escribar to fight in his name and the Church, serving as his bodyguards.

* ThePaladin order in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' trace their origins as the Sultansworn, the royal guard of the Sultan or Sultana of Ul'dah. Players who become paladins instead become a [[KnightErrant Free Paladin]].

* ''StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]:

* The United States Secret Service handles this for the President and other officials, as well as visiting diplomats. Interestingly, the protective mission is barely 10% of the manpower: the rest serve as federal police attached to the Department of Homeland Security, where they investigate (among other things) counterfeiting (which is what they were originally created to deal with--by Abraham Lincoln, shortly before his assassination), cybercrime, and identity theft, thoroughly unrelated work. The Secret Service ended up with the duty of presidential bodyguards because when it was decided (after a few too many assassinations) that a permanent and well-trained squad of bodyguards was needed, the Secret Service was the largest federal law enforcement agency (the FBI did not exist yet) and thus the only one with sufficient manpower for the job. Also, a little-known division of the Secret Service is the C.A.T. or Counter Assault Team, which is made up of former US Military Elite types. These are the guys who travel around in the presidential convoy and stay at the White House in full combat kit with one objective: stopping assaults on the president.

* The Janissary Guard of the Ottoman Empire gets a special mention for the inflation it suffered. Originally, it only consisted of a few hundred slave-soldiers who [[TheSpartanWay had been taught to fight from childhood]]. Over time, their numbers increased until practically the entire army was Janissaries, they recruited openly from the free population, [[BadassDecay most of them didn't do any fighting or have skills for that matter]], and they killed several sultans for thinking it was time to put the guard down.

** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', Supreme Leader Snoke has his own red-clad bodyguards (actually called The Praetorian Guard), armed with weapons capable of shifting into multiple forms, who are [[EliteMooks elite enough]] to [[spoiler: give both Rey and [[TheStarscream Kylo Ren]] a run for their money]].
** The death of the Praetorian Guard in ''The Last Jedi'' resulted in Kylo Ren taking the Knights of Ren to be his own equivalent in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', and they happen to be Force-sensitive, though crudely so.

** Ditto their later song "The Royal Guard", about the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Royal Guard]] of the King of Sweden.

** And in all fairness, Caligula was, well, ''[[TheCaligula TheCaligula]]'' [[TheCaligula Caligula]]. His behavior being a combination of being a BadBoss, TooDumbToLive, and especially a severe case of BullyingADragon. Caligula pretty much got away with most of the depravities, but doing them to the Praetorians would lead to his death.

** And in all fairness, Caligula was, well, ''[[The TheCaligula]]'' [[TheCaligula Caligula]]. His behavior being a combination of being a BadBoss, TooDumbToLive, and especially a severe case of BullyingADragon. Caligula pretty much got away with most of the depravities, but doing them to the Praetorians would lead to his death.

** And in all fairness, Caligula was a combination of being a BadBoss, TooDumbToLive, and especially a severe case of BullyingADragon. Caligula pretty much got away with most of the depravities, but doing them to the Praetorians would lead to his death.

* In ''Literature/AMemoryOfFlames'', the Speaker of the Realms has a group of "Adamantine Men" serving as their personal guard. The Adamantine Men also served the Realms by helping the Alchemists control dragons for the various Kings and Queens.

* Marvel also has the Shi'ar Empire's Praetorian Guard who protect the Ruler. They're lead by Gladiator and are made up of some of the most powerful beings in the empire. [[spoiler:Though in the aftermath of ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'', Gladiator himself becomes the ruler of the empire.]]

** The Bohrok swarm had the Bohrok-Kal, which where deployed as soon as the swarm's Bahrag Queens were defeated with the objective of freeing them from the [[SealedEvilInACan can they’d been sealed in.]] Compared to the innumerable Bohrok, there were only six Bohrok-Kal, but they had a completely different power set and full intelligence to boot.