History Main / StrongEmpireShriveledEmperor

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': King Bumi subverts this trope. Though not the Emperor of the Earth Kingdom, he rules over a fairly powerful city-state (which may or may not be some form of vassal to the Earth King), Omashu. When Aang arrives in Omashu for the first time, Bumi subjects him to a series of challenges, culminating in a duel. Bumi's exact words are "Whoever you point at will be your opponent" and Aang, thinking he's being clever, points at Bumi rather than either of the two warriors. Only after this happens, does Bumi shed his disguise of being a frail old man to reveal that he is not only in VERY good shape, but also one of the most powerful earth-benders in the world.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' features Caesar's Legion as its primary villainous faction - a brutal and ruthless fascist empire that keeps its territories under control through slavery and extreme violence, founded on the principle that MightMakesRight. The leader of the Legion, Caesar himself, is a man in his fifties and a NonActionBigBad who is happy to let his legionaries handle any physical conflict, partially due to his advancing age, but also due to [[spoiler:his terminal brain tumor effectively crippling him]]. If Caesar is dead by the time you visit The Divide, Ulysses has some choice words regarding a frail old man leading a society that believes in the survival of the fittest.
-->'''Ulysses:''' Caesar would be history's hypocrite if he was angry about what happened. Seems you proved his philosophy to him. If he'd been stronger, he'd be alive, and we wouldn't be talking.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': [[BigBad Emperor Sheev Palpatine]] founded and leads the mighty Galactic Empire -- yet in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', he is revealed to be an old man in a simple black robe, and in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' he is shown as being much smaller than his apprentice, [[TheDragon Darth Vader]]. This trope gets [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged]] a bit, as he is a genuinely powerful Sith Lord who is incredibly talented in the ways of the Force... but [[SquishyWizard he's also a very old man decades past his prime]], meaning that while he can kill easily with the Force, he's pretty helpless against anyone or anything that can get past that. [[ImplacableMan Darth Vader]] defeats him by simply bear-hugging Palpatine and hurling him over a nearby railing to his death, and Palpatine can do nothing about it but scream and wildly fire off [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]], but he is still strong enough to score a MutualKill in the process.

* The Empire of Adrestia in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' is led by Emperor Ionius IX, the father of Edelgard von Hresvelg. Ionius is a man in very ill health and in reality [[PuppetKing has barely any political power]], having been rendered powerless in a silent coup by an alliance of corrupt noble families and by Those Who Slither In The Dark. He is so powerless, that he was unable to [[spoiler: prevent his 11 children from being kidnapped, imprisoned, and [[PlayingWithSyringes experimented on]] to become double Crest implantees, with 10 of those children eventually being tortured to death.]] The horrible state of his health is the major factor that [[spoiler: allows Edelgard to return to the capital and ask him to step down so she can ascend the throne, averting this trope (well, for as much as she can, since her health also ended up rather damaged by the aforementioned experiments -- of which she was the SoleSurvivor).]]

* Cleon II and the Mule from ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. The former is the last strong Emperor yet bedridden due an unknown and painful disease, the latter is a mutant with enough power to build a huge empire, a frail build, and enough health problems to die before he's fifty.

* Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors from ''Manga/OnePiece'' zigzags this to the extreme. On one side, he's introduced being hooked on life support despite being captain of one of the strongest crew in the world, with claims over large territories in the New World. During the Paramount War arc, he insisted on taking the life support devices out so his enemies won't pity or mock him for it, and even his subordinates note that this man is ''way'' past his prime, terminally ill and practically on death's door. On the other hand, he's still a massive, towering bulk of muscle, and he will show you just exactly ''[[PersonOfMassDestruction why]]'' he's earned the title of WorldsStrongestMan.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': [[BigBad Emperor Sheev Palpatine]] founded and leads the mighty Galactic Empire -- yet in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', he is revealed to be an old man in a simple black robe, and in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' he is shown as being much smaller than his apprentice, [[TheDragon Darth Vader]]. This trope gets [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged]] a bit, as he is a genuinely powerful Sith Lord who is incredibly talented in the ways of the Force... but [[SquishyWizard he's also a very old man decades past his prime]], meaning that while he can kill easily with the Force, he's pretty helpless against anyone or anything that can get past that. [[ImplacableMan Darth Vader]] defeats him by simply bear-hugging Palpatine and hurling him over a nearby railing to his death, and Palpatine can do nothing about it but scream and wildly fire off [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]].
* In ''Film/{{Fatherland}}'', Hitler's Nazi Germany has conquered Europe, and he's still in charge twenty years later. While he never shows up in the book, at the end of the movie he turns up for a diplomatic meeting with the U.S. President in Berlin, showing him to be a feeble 75-year old man.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] in ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' with [[EvilOverlord the Lord Ruler]]. The nature of his powers make being OrcusOnHisThrone a necessity, especially because he needs to spend some periods of time as a shriveled old man in order to spend other times as a healthy, young man, despite being centuries old. However, when he takes an active role in the first book, he's a nearly invincible PhysicalGod rather than the nominal ruler that would be expected from his absence from public life.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': While Centauri Republic is an empire in decline, they still rank among the five most powerful races in known space. The emperor, however, is a very old man who is gravely ill. At least at first; when he makes a visit to Babylon 5, his health takes a sudden turn for the worst and he dies shortly thereafter. His replacement is a much younger man, but is [[TheCaligula really not right in the head]].

* In most of the games based on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', specially the Creator/{{Konami}}'s BeatEmUp of TheNineties and ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'', the BigBad is usually Montgomery Burns, a frail, ridiculously old man who can be easily defeated -- even by Maggie.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has the Gestahlian Empire, which covers the known world and is run by Gestahl, a 60-year old geezer. Albeit a geezer with a cunning strategic mind who masters highly advanced PlayingWithFire magic.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' subverts this; the Empire of Nifleheim is nominally governed by the Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt, but the ''de-facto'' ruler and actual BigBad is [[DragonInChief his chancellor]] Ardyn Izuna, who looks much younger due to being immortal.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' features Caesar's Legion as its primary villainous faction - a brutal and ruthless fascist empire that keeps its territories under control through slavery and extreme violence, founded on the principle that MightMakesRight. The leader of the Legion, Caesar himself, is a man in his fifties and a NonActionBigBad who is happy to let his legionaries handle any physical conflict, partially due to his advancing age, but also due to [[spoiler:his terminal brain tumour effectively crippling him]]. If Caesar is dead by the time you visit The Divide, Ulysses has some choice words regarding a frail old man leading a society that believes in the survival of the fittest.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Emperor Belos, ruler of the Boiling Isles and overseer of the coven system, is hinted to be this. He rarely makes public appearances anymore, [[OrcusOnHisThrone operating through intermediaries without leaving his palace]], and when he finally see him towards the end of season one, he's visibly ill and has to [[MagicEater feed on the magic bile from a palisman]] to function normally. Despite all this, he's still [[TheDreaded the most feared man in the Boiling Isles]], and with good reason. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he's actually a human from the 1600s who's been using the palismen to artificially extend his life as he plots genocide against his subjects. His weakened state is actually caused by the souls of all the palismen he's devoured over the centuries attempting to break free.]]

* UsefulNotes/TimurTheLame was crippled for most of his life, but managed to carve out an mighty empire that only grew more powerful as he became older. By his late sixties, he could barely hold a sword or mount a horse alone, but succeeded in crushing the Georgians, Armenians, Persians, Egyptians, Indians and the Knights of Rhodes, and humiliated the [[RisingEmpire rising Ottoman Empire]] by taking its sultan prisoner alongside his entire [[RoyalHarem harem]] with him.
* The British Empire during the second Boer War, with Queen Victoria in seclusion and on her deathbed for most of the war.

* In ''Literature/TheTraitorBaruCormorant'', the Emperor at the head of the Imperial Republic of Falcrest is actually a lobotomized puppet, and the Parliament has no real power either. Instead, all real power is in the hands of a cabal of "advisers" operating behind the scenes.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has the Gestahlian Empire, which covers the known world and is run by Gestahl, a 60-year old geezer.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' subverts this as well. TheEmperor and founder of the Garlean Empire, Solus zos Galvus, is never even seen outside of official developers' artwork, and he's an old man in his eighties by the time the game starts. Before the first expansion, he [[KilledOffscreen dies offscreen]] due to illness and old age and the ensuing SuccessionCrisis happens entirely independently of the player or their allies. His grandson, Varis, then takes over. [[spoiler: Two expansions later, it's revealed that Solus was actually one of the immortal Ascian sorcerers, had several clone bodies, and is in fact very much still alive - he only took a short nap in the Interdimensional Rift after the death of his mortal body and later happily comes back into the picture by messing with his grandson and monologuing about how the Garlean Empire was simply a tool of the Ascians. Soon after, we learn his Ascian name - Emet Selch - and he steps into the BigBad role for the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion, and he is ''anything but'' this trope]].

In most works, the leader of TheEmpire is powerful in their own right, especially when AuthorityEqualsAsskicking in their realm.

* In the United States -- one of the most powerful nations on Earth and arguably the center of a cultural sphere of power that extends worldwide -- the President must be at least 35 years old. While that's nowhere near this trope, most Presidents are, in practice, nowhere near that age; [=POTUSes=] in their 40s are considered almost too young. The typical President of the United States is in his late 50's to early 70's; UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was nearly 70 when he was elected (at that time the oldest elected president) and a few weeks shy of his 74th birthday when he left office. Then Creator/DonaldTrump surpassed him at exactly 70 by his election in 2016... and ''then'' UsefulNotes/JoeBiden came, at the age of ''78'' when sworn in. A more specific example is during WWII, the president of the US was UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt who was in his '60s and was in a wheelchair due to Polio.

Compare DarkLordOnLifeSupport, WeakBossStrongUnderlings, PuppetKing, and TheManBehindTheCurtain, with which this trope often overlaps.

* In the United States -- one of the most powerful nations on Earth and arguably the center of a cultural sphere of power that extends worldwide -- the President must be at least 35 years old. While that's nowhere near this trope, most Presidents are, in practice, nowhere near that age; [=POTUSes=] in their 40's are considered almost too young. The typical President of the United States is in his late 50's to early 70's; UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was nearly 70 when he was elected (at that time the oldest elected president) and a few weeks shy of his 74th birthday when he left office. Then Creator/DonaldTrump surpassed him at exactly 70 by his election in 2016... and ''then'' UsefulNotes/JoeBiden came, at the age of ''78'' when sworn in. A more specific example is during WWII, the president of the US was F.D.R. who was in his '60s and was in a wheelchair due to Polio.
* The USSR -- the other official superpower during the Cold War -- had not one, but ''three'' Secretaries-General of frail health from the late 1970s to mid-1980s: UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev, UsefulNotes/YuriAndropov and UsefulNotes/KonstantinChernenko. The first half of 1980s was [[BlackComedy jokingly (in a dark way)]] called 'the Five Years of Fabulous Funerals' or 'Bier Racing'. Then [[UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev a younger, more energetic person]] took the position and started to reform the country... we all know [[WhyWereBummedCommunismFell how it ended]].
** Another joke from the era: "Under the tsar, supreme leadership was passed from father to son. Under communism, it's passed from grandfather to grandfather."