History Main / TheChainsOfCommanding

* In ''Assassins of {{Gor}}'' Marlenus of Ar has to exile Tarl as punishment for his actions in the first book even after declaring Tarl a hero and friend.

->''Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.''\\
-- '''WilliamShakespeare''', ''2 HenryIV'' 3.1.31.

--> '''Narrator''', ''FightClub''

Authority means a lot of things. Sure, when everything's going well, everyone has to listen to what you're saying, you don't need to do the ''stupid'' parts of whatever your group is doing, you're probably less poor than your underlings and you get to look fine in your boss garb.

High-ranking characters can be full of angst. They feel lonely, because strict protocol has to be observed -- they want to beware of showing bias to friends and family, after all -- and because no one acts natural around them. They have to make TheSadisticChoice and can't always TakeAThirdOption; they may need to make plans that allow for their friends dying. If they overlook something and can't [[XanatosSpeedChess adjust to it in time]], they may get their people killed and feel that ItsAllMyFault, and end up with [[MyGreatestFailure incredible guilt.]] They worry about the neighbours invading, [[ArrangedMarriage about marrying for strategy]], [[HeirClubForMen about breeding an heir]], about the natural disaster that destroyed half the crop, about that [[EvilUncle backstabbing relative of theirs eyeing the throne they sit on.]] The worst part is that they shouldn't even complain aloud and should [[DontYouDarePityMe reject an]][[HeroHarassesHelpers y sympathy]], as that would leave them looking weak. Not that that notion is always obeyed.

* Queen Arika from ''MahouSenseiNegima''. Grew up sheltered but isolated, and maintained a marble demeanour with everyone she met. Near the end of the war twenty years ago, she had to make some ''very'' hard choices, resulting in [[spoiler:the world being saved but her own kingdom being destroyed, with the survivors scattered]]. The Megalomesembrian Senate [[spoiler:had her arrested, publicly blamed her for pretty much the whole war and sentenced her to death -- which she ''went along with'' because she figured it would help her people. Good thing the ''Ala Rubra'' had a [[FakingTheDead clever]] [[BigDamnHeroes plan]].]]

* This is the reason that [[{{Sandman}} Morpheus]] grew tired of his role as Dream and [[spoiler: committed indirect suicide.]]

* Primus of the OmegaMen always felt this, often drifting dangerously close to {{Wangst}}.

** There's also Brother-Captain Alvarez and his decision to [[spoiler:[[MercyKill execute his remaining wounded soldiers to prevent possible rape or torture at the hands of the [=GDI=]]]]], which continues to haunt him up to now.

* At the end of CSLewis's ''[[{{Narnia}} A Horse and His Boy]]'' Prince Corin [[spoiler: is overjoyed that his twin brother has returned so that he doesn't have to become king himself. His twin brother, who up to now had thought of himself as Shasta and not Prince Cor, had not expected this reaction and wasn't sure he wanted to be king either.]]

* The titular Colonel-Commissar of DanAbnett's ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: [[GauntsGhosts Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' deals with this a lot.

--> '''Iblis''': "After all these years, I finally understand why she does things the way she does. I've always assumed that she was gathering more and more power to herself simply because she was in love with power. But I was wrong. With everything she does there are lives hanging in the balance. And she's terrified of trusting anyone else with those lives."

* In the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' novels the young elven princess Laurana suffers from this during her time as the [[RedBaron Golden General]]. [[spoiler: The immense stress she is under ends up making her highly susceptible to FlawExploitation at the hands of her ArchEnemy Kitiara.]]

* In the {{Halo}} ExpandedUniverse - Fred-104, Master Chief's second in command, suffers from a mild bout of this when he takes the rest of the [[SuperSoldiers SPARTAN-II]]s down to defend the planet [[DoomedHometown Reach]]. It doesn't help when four Spartans die in the initial drop - the most to die in a single mission in the unit's history.
* PrinceRoger, in ''Empire of Man'', becomes this once he realizes that the Marines guarding him are people who have their own problems. It's bad enough while he's on [[DeathWorld Marduk]] but things become infinitely worse once they get off-planet and discover the real situation back home. By that point, [[spoiler: there are so few of the Bronze Barbarians left that he's fanatic about keeping them safe and will do ''anything'' to reduce casualties on his side. His advisors are so concerned about this that they talk to his BodyguardCrush to make sure that she'll serve as his "prosthetic concience" to make sure that he doesn't just roll over the opposition with MoreDakka when a less-violent alternative is feasible.]]

* Tony [[TheSopranos Soprano]] seems unable to decide which he feels more strongly: the stress or the benefits of being mob boss.
* Though most of the time ''{{Firefly}}'s'' Malcolm Reynolds doesn't show the stress that his job as Captain of the good ship ''Serenity'' would foist on him, there are a few occasional moments where he does show that weight of responsibility, particularly in the Big Damn Movie.

* Long story short, pretty much every captain from ''StarTrek'' feels this at some point. This includes all the spinoffs, and even one shot captains often wind up feeling the burden of command before their spot is over.
** Janeway started to embody this trope over the course of {{Voyager}}. Entire episodes would revolve around her locking herself in her darkened quarters brooding over the ship's predicament.

* [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] often felt this way about her calling as the Slayer making her feel different. It bordered on what could be considered supreme egotism sometimes and when faced with one very tough decision [[spoiler: about whether to kill Anya for restarting her vengeance demon ways]] she claimed that the Scooby Gang was not a democracy, that she's the slayer and eventually all the tough decisions come down to her. I believe the line "I am the law" was even uttered.

* In one of the more humanizing moments for Dr. Kelso in ''{{Scrubs}}'', he puts Dr. Cox in charge of trying to figure out how to balance the budget without firing someone. Much to Cox's chagrin, he can't, and Kelso points out that he doesn't (always) make his decisions because he's a {{Jerkass}}; sometimes, it's the only way to keep Sacred Heart running.

* Londo Mollari of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' [[LampshadeHanging remarks]] that he started with no power and all the choice in the world, and ended up with all the power in the world and no choice at all. Not only are his hands tied by the complex political machinations, but he's also [[spoiler:being [[PuppeteerParasite controlled by a Drakh Keeper]]]]. In the end, he sulks in his throne room because [[spoiler:he can't bear the thought of accidentally looking at [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair the ruined Centauri homeworld and bursting into tears.]]]]

* A video game example: ''MassEffect'' has two missions where you have to make a very, very unpleasant choice. First, [[spoiler:you get to choose which of your human squad members dies. There is no way to find a third option: the one you choose to leave behind will die spectacularly.]] And then in the downloadable content, [[spoiler:you can either let the terrorist who is trying to drop an asteroid on a multi-million population human world go, or he'll kill the three miners that he took hostage on the asteroid. You cannot talk him out of it and you cannot disarm the mine before he sets it off if you choose not to let him go.]]
** Comes to a head for the player in ''Mass Effect 2'', where during the final mission, if you make the wrong decisions for the various jobs and tasks, your crewmembers can get killed one by one.
** For a NPC example, Ronald Taylor tried to invoke this trope as an excuse for his flying leap over the MoralEventHorizon. (Basically, he got stranded on an alien world, and killed most of the men and forced the women in his crew to serve as a harem.)

* Micaiah and Prince Pelleas go through Part III of ''FireEmblem: Radiant Dawn'' losing a war and being [[WellIntentionedExtremist the bad guys]] of said war because [[spoiler: Pelleas followed his TreacherousAdvisor's advice and signed a DealWithTheDevil.]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

** He also punishes someone who has displeased him by putting him in charge of a city. Admittedly, it includes the threat of being sent to [[MaximumFunChamber Castle Heterodyne]] at his very first slip-up. [[spoiler: Later, we catch up with him in Castle Heterodyne.]]
* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Princess Voluptua takes her job very seriously, both as heir to the throne and as veicereign of Earth's solar system. Apparently, a lot of Nemesite royals and aristocrats are terrible jerks, whereas she's trying very hard to be a fair and just leader. She seems to be doing a good job, since even people who [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100525.html hate the Nemesites in general seem to respect her.]]

* Rodimus Prime in series 3 of ''{{Transformers Generation 1}}.''

* Leonardo from ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003) suffers through this, and it becomes the focus of his character arc during the first half of the fourth season.
* Ahsoka has to learn this lesson when she loses her squadron of pilots in ''Storm over Ryloth'' on ''TheCloneWars.''
* Commander Walsh from GalaxyRangers, especially in "Supertroopers." He was in charge of the SuperSoldier project, and it blew up in his face.

* Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, suffered from this during World War I, when he became so overwhelmed with the task of trying to run the Russian Empire during a time of war that it took a serious toll on his physical health. As noted by biographer Robert K. Massie in his seminal book ''Nicholas and Alexandra'', being deposed as the Russian Emperor actually had a fringe benefit, as it freed him from the stresses of running the country. Life in captivity wasn't exactly pleasant, and {{It Got Worse}} after the Bolsheviks seized power, but Nicholas's health did recover once he no longer had to put up with the headaches of running a country so huge it made up one-sixth of the world's landmass.

** Doubly so for War Presidents. Lincoln and FDR are good examples, and this American troper has trouble reconciling how (relatively) youthful Bush Jr. and Obama looked right before the start of their Presidencies compared to their last/latest year in office. What's really scary is that while Bush had eight years, Obama is showing signs after less than three years in office.
** When James Buchanan left office, after failing to prevent the Civil War and seeing the division of the Union, he told Abraham Lincoln, "If you are as happy to be entering the presidency as I am to be leaving it, then you are a very happy man."
* In his book ''Bastards and Boneheads'', Canadian historian Will Ferguson provides a list of quotes from the Canadian prime ministers that all pretty much say the same thing: Canada is an extremely difficult country to govern. Ferguson's book was written while Jean Chretien was in office, but one could argue that Paul Martin and Stephen Harper would add their quotes to the list if they were asked about it.

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* Conan's feelings on being King of Aquilonia, from ''The Phoenix in the Sword'':

* In RobertEHoward's "The People of the Black Circle", Yasmina tells ConanTheBarbarian that she is queen and must return.
** In "Black Colossus" Conan himself, restraining his BloodKnight tendencies because he is responsible for his men.

** Doubly so for War Presidents. Lincoln and FDR are good examples, and this American troper has trouble reconciling how (relatively) youthful Bush Jr. and Obama looked right before the start of their Presidencies compared to their last/latest year in office.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Potential_Disaster.jpg
[[caption-width:217:Sometimes it sucks to be the one calling the shots.]]

-->''Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.''
-->-- '''WilliamShakespeare''', ''2 HenryIV'' 3.1.31.

* In William King's {{Warhammer 40000}} SpaceWolf novel ''Grey Hunters'', Ragnor feels this strongly when he receives a FieldPromotion. Especially because one of his new subordinates was a man he had long hated and [[{{Revenge}} wanted to kill]]. He wonders whether, if this man died, he would be able to tell whether he had done all he could or had secretly wanted him to die.

[[http://webspace.webring.com/people/ar/ravenfield/lyrics/5/pricecommand.html "The Price of Command"]] by MercedesLackey

* March from Ann Aguirre's Jax series feels the weight of command so much that he's had more than one HeroicBSOD in his lifetime.

* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Princess Voluptua takes her job very seriously, both as heir to the throne and veicereign of Earth's solar system. Apparently, a lot of Nemesite royals and aristocrats are terrible jerks, whereas she's trying very hard to be a fair and just leader. She seems to be doing a good job, since even people who [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100525.html hate the Nemesites in general seem to respect her.]]

*** It's always been hard for this troper to decide if he would pity him or hit him for being so stupid.

* The story of the sword of Damocles is an ancient anecdote, memorably told by Cicero about Dionysius II, who was the tyrant of Syracuse in the 4th century BC, and one of his courtiers, named Damocles. Damocles said that with all of his wealth and posessions, Dionysius must be the most fortunate man who ever lived. Dionysius offered him to try his fortune, and he accepted. Dionysius held a banquet where Damocles was treated like a kind, and felt happy... until he looked up, and saw a heavy sword over his head held up by single horse-hair. Damocles didn't notice all the wealth and beauty around him anymore, and begged the tyrant to let him go, because he no longer wanted to be fortunate. Since this is an ancient tale, that makes this one OlderThanDirt.

* The sword of Damocles was one king's attempt to give a friend of his an idea of the nature and existence of TheChainsOfCommanding. In this case, the chains would be a single hair holding up a heavy sword over his head... Since this is an ancient tale, likely Greek in origin (if not older), that makes this one OlderThanDirt.