| 1 | ->''"I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''Rufus Shinra''' upon his takeover of [[MegaCorp the Shinra Electric Power Company]], ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Every [[TheLeader leader]] has their own personal style, their own spin on how to get, maintain, and lead supporters, and villains are no exception. Here are the ways evil leaders like the EvilOverlord, BigBad, or even a petty crime boss lead, control or coerce their EvilMinions, {{Mooks}}, henchmen, and TheDragon to do their [[EvilPlan evil bidding]]. In no alphabetical order, they are: |
| 5 | |
| 6 | * '''Authority:''' The legitimate authority figure within an organization, such as an army, and his minions are under him on the organizational chart. The minions may or may not be aware of his true objectives, but follow him [[PunchClockVillain because it's their job to do so]]. The GeneralRipper, HangingJudge, and leaders of TheRemnant are examples of this. An EngineeredPublicConfession that proves he has betrayed the interest of the organization can bring him down, as can going through his superiors (if he has any), otherwise replacing him, or an EnemyCivilWar with other branches of service. |
| 7 | ** '''Birthright:''' The Big Bad has some sort of birthright (for example, he's some sort of feudal warlord) and the mooks are bound to him by a code of honor/duty. Usually TheCaligula or GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. Only outright assassination or a coup d'etat from a good sibling can stop them. |
| 8 | ** '''Divine Right:''' [[AGodAmI The villain claims to be a god]] or [[DivineRightOfKings has the blessing of a god]] to be TheLeader. Alternatively, may be a DarkMessiah faking/actually possessing either divine or demonic backing. Doesn't matter if they are Good or Evil; they will sometimes be worshiped and followed purely because they are divine. |
| 9 | ** '''Obligation:''' Some people believe that [[IGaveMyWord a man's word is his bond]], and that even if they have no personal Loyalty to the villain, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong they have a contract, promise, or other obligation that they have to fulfill]]. In some cases, they may even be bound to the Big Bad by a MagicallyBindingContract regardless of what they would want to do themselves. The best routes the hero can take to defeat this will usually involve convincing the minion that their boss [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness has no intentions of keeping their promises]], finding [[LoopholeAbuse loopholes]] they can exploit, or coming up with a way to TakeAThirdOption that technically fulfills the obligation without harming the hero's cause. |
| 10 | ** '''Popular Sovereignty:''' Rather than being a legitimate authority figure installed by external sources, the Big Bad is elected or selected from those below to implement an agenda. These villains are both easier and harder to combat than their cousins; since they achieved their authority through consent, they can be discredited if shown to be [[YouHaveFailedMe incompetent]] or a StrawHypocrite. Unfortunately, these Big Bads rarely bring their organization down with them unless they were a special breed of MagnificentBastard. There are always a long line of wannabe [[PresidentEvil evil presidents]] and pirate captains in the wings... |
| 11 | ** '''[[AntiMutiny Your Minion's Minions]]''': A great way to keep powerful minions in line is by having influence over THEIR minions through one of the other methods. Many a [[TheStarscream Starscream]] and potential YoungConqueror were undercut by the possibility of their rebellion facing a loyalist counterreaction. Bonus points if the vassal is powerful in their own right to take you out but not powerful enough to take on their own vassals. |
| 12 | * '''[[TheCorruption Corruption]]:''' The Big Bad decides that rather than recruit from those interested, [[TheCorrupter he'll]] instead ''make'' an applicant pool by means of TheDarkSide, BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil, MoreThanMindControl, PsychoSerum, or the dreaded [[EvilTastesGood chocolate chip cookies]] [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of doom!]] To undo this usually requires an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight and a lesson about how GoodFeelsGood, but those corrupted tend to be harder to break free (and for the villain to control) than Mind Control below. |
| 13 | * '''[[MotivatedByFear Fear]]:''' The bad guy controls their {{Mooks}} with good old [[Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavellian]] Fear. Because RankScalesWithAsskicking, he will use threats of violence on them and/or their loved ones. [[GoodAllAlong The mooks are in no way evil]], just working under threat of violence. Heroes can break this form of control in different ways. One is to rescue the hostages, beat up the Big Bad (thus proving him to be weak and "harmless"), [[MachiavelliWasWrong convincing]] the mooks of ThePowerOfFriendship, or demonstrating that [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership it is he who should be feared]]. If the odds turn against a particular villain, there's also the chance of the mooks [[TheDogBitesBack getting their own back]]. [[TheMobBossIsScarier Criminals and crime organizations tend to be fond of this one.]] A favorite for subordinates who are TrappedInVillainy. |
| 14 | ** '''[[ALighterShadeOfBlack Being the Lesser Evil]]:''' In a world with BlackAndGrayMorality, the EvilOverlord gets assistance from the population because they're fighting against {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. What's a little slavery and torture compared to living in {{Mordor}}? If the heroes can't immediately provide a [[TakeAThirdOption better alternative]], i.e. they really do need the Less Evil Side's assistance, a ConspiracyRedemption may be in order. |
| 15 | ** '''Coercion:''' The villain has a hold on someone that they can leverage to make someone do whatever they wish, be it a threat to some loved one that they've kidnapped, having their hands on something the minion needs to survive or would die if they lost (such as a lich's SoulJar), or access to a crippling weakness that said minion has. The best way to get this kind of minion to turn on the villain is to remove the hold that the villain has on them, such as by rescuing those under threat or getting back what the villain has. |
| 16 | ** '''EvilVersusOblivion:''' The villain markets his methods as [[TheExtremistWasRight the only viable solution]] to a crisis that will result in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The most likely way this particular motivator can be undermined is for the Hero to find a way to TakeAThirdOption that works and doesn't involve any undue coercion. |
| 17 | ** '''Fear of Losing Privileges:''' The villain ensures loyalty by stating that the heroes want to do things like free their slaves and reduce their political power — this generally only works if the evil minions are part of a noble class. Unless the heroes have more money than Mammon, they're not going to be able to provide compensation for their loss of status even if the outcome is fair. Conversely, select EliteMooks can be convinced to turn against the Big Bad if doing so would (temporarily, hopefully) give them greater privileges. |
| 18 | ** '''Point of No Return:''' This villain is supported by his minions for one reason; if the villain falls, they will be severely punished by a legitimate authority. If the minions didn't do anything to earn punishment, an honest promise from the hero to spare them will get many of them to abandon their leader. Minions may feel that they're TrappedInVillainy. |
| 19 | ** '''Prejudice:''' Villains love controlling prejudiced minions, because nothing short-circuits a minion's critical thinking abilities like whipping up hatred and a desire to dominate an "other". If revealing the villain to be a [[YouAreWhatYouHate secret target of the bigotry]] or a StrawHypocrite is too distasteful for the hero, they need to hunker down for a long campaign to eliminate or at least ameliorate the minions' prejudice. |
| 20 | * '''(Fanatical) Loyalty:''' Nothing beats blind loyalty in minions. The minions are loyal for one or more of the following reasons: |
| 21 | ** '''[[VisionaryVillain Agenda]]:''' The villain has ThePlan where UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, and the mooks heartily agree in the guise of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s or {{Black Shirt}}s. |
| 22 | ** '''Acceptance:''' The mooks are poor, ugly, diseased, mutants, or an entire caste/race/nation of people who are marginalized. The villain shows that DarkIsNotEvil by giving them a home, relief, and promises of justice and equality (which often overlaps with Agenda). He may or may not be lying [[PragmaticVillainy because]] EqualOpportunityEvil means more minions. |
| 23 | ** '''BlindObedience:''' The minions genuinely believe their boss to be incapable of error, usually paired with an oath for UndyingLoyalty to make questioning their authority the farthest thing from their mind. MyMasterRightOrWrong sometimes crop up. |
| 24 | ** '''[[TykeBomb Indoctrination:]]''' The mooks are trained from birth and taught to love, fear, and obey the villain. In all of these cases, the best way to undo support is to expose (or frame!) the bad guy as a StrawHypocrite. |
| 25 | ** '''[[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Kindness]]:''' The villain has personally helped, rescued, or enfranchised the minion or one of their loved ones, who follows him out of gratitude. The villain may have done this [[EvilVirtues altruistically]] as a PetTheDog, in an attempt to get their loyalty, or it was completely unintended but they accept their fealty anyway. |
| 26 | ** '''Love:''' The BigBad is an emotional manipulator, TheVamp, or has MoreThanMindControl[=/=]LoveIsInTheAir as a power. They can also [[EvilVirtues love and inspire love in others.]] All his or her minions do evil out of love. |
| 27 | ** '''{{Revenge}}:''' If the good guys have hurt someone, offering them a chance for revenge works wonders. Even better, some Big Bads [[FrameUp pin their crimes on the heroes]] and then get those hurt to sign up. Unfortunately, if they ever find out (say, from the heroes) that it was the BigBad who was actually responsible for the loss that inspired them to seek revenge, they will turn on the BigBad with a vengeance. |
| 28 | ** '''Respect''': The minions genuinely respect and admire the villain. This is usually because the villain is [[TheCharmer charismatic]], an [[BenevolentBoss effective and reasonable leader]], or [[AHeroToHisHometown they think he's a great guy]]. These minions are the least likely to betray the villain, but they may pull a MookFaceTurn if something happens to destroy their respect for him. |
| 29 | * '''Material Benefits''': Sometimes, the reason minions follow a villain comes down to a matter of simple supply and demand — the villain promises to give them something they want in exchange for services rendered, or that the job itself will serve as a means to an end to make what they want easier to get. If not bound by any other ties, the simplest way for the heroes to counter this is simply [[CutLexLuthorACheck helping the minions find more convenient legitimate ways]] to get what they want. |
| 30 | ** '''[[VetinariJobSecurity Incidental Importance]]:''' This tactic, favored by [[EmperorScientist Emperor Scientists]] and {{Dark Messiah}}s especially, is to provide some sort of benefit to their minions that is unrelated to their ruling over them. The idea is that if this person is buttressing their economy or mass-curing plagues around the countryside, they'll be able to do so better (or alternatively, threaten not to so do) if they get authority alongside it. These villains need to be undercut by separating the benefit from the authority figure or just showing that there is AlwaysSomeoneBetter. |
| 31 | ** '''Money:''' [[CrimefightingWithCash Money is a valid superpower, after all]], and the bad guy hires {{Punch Clock Villain}}s to do his evil bidding. Being motivated by filthy lucre (or having SignedUpForTheDental), the best way for heroes to cause a mass desertion is either to outbid the bad guy or bankrupt him. If the villain is rich enough, this can be the most effective kind of control. |
| 32 | ** '''Sexual Favors''': A more direct but less effective form of reward, and sometimes overlaps with Love under Loyalty. A common method for FemmeFatale characters, it generally only works on a few minions at a time, and rarely is the sole motivator. |
| 33 | * '''MindControl / Remote Control:''' Loyalty is such a ''finicky'' thing. It takes ages to create, can be crumbled in seconds, and requires continuous upkeep. Some villains decide to take loyalty ([[TheEvilsOfFreeWill and free will]]) out of the equation with mind control, and/or [[MechaMooks robotic minions]]. The downside is that they can be TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and/or [[KeystoneArmy shut down by pulling a plug.]] |
| 34 | * '''Power:''' AsskickingLeadsToLeadership or some other such variant; the BigBad is followed because he is the strongest. Can be undone if TheHero defeats him or otherwise proves himself powerful enough in some other fashion. This works best when the BigBad possesses [[PhysicalGod godlike]] abilities. |
| 35 | ** '''A Piece of the Action''': Not only is the BigBad powerful, he can empower his minions, either as officials in his new regime, or by [[SuperEmpowering giving them superhuman powers]]. |
| 36 | ** '''Resources for Another Project''': Do you have a pack of necromancers chafing against not having bodies to legally raise or {{MadScientist}}s harassed by mobs of {{Evil Luddite}}s? In exchange for loyalty, rewrite the laws in their favor, have your {{Elite Mook}}s deliver them special material, soforth. This can backfire if the minion(s) can get their project resources through some other means, hence this method is better used to control minions like {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s rather than a CorruptCorporateExecutive. |
| 37 | ** '''Sadism:''' The bad guys follow the BigBad because he gives them a way to indulge their worst sides, be it [[CombatSadomasochist hurting people]], [[BloodKnight fighting]], [[PsychoForHire killing]], [[MadScientist mad scientific experiments]], or just plain [[EvilIsPetty being cruel to other people]]. They particularly love orders from the BigBad that give them free rein to do whatever they want, usually to some chosen victim. It's unlikely that the hero can offer them more than the Big Bad, but if they can manipulate either side into EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes or a VillainousDemotivator, betrayal will ensue. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | See also StockEvilOverlordTactics. |
| 40 | ---- |
| 41 | !!Examples: |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 46 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In the past, [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaAllForOne All For One]] was shown to control his minions by giving them Quirks, thus indebting them to him. However, he's also shown a talent for manipulating people frustrated with hero society through their philosophical ideals, such as feeding Shigaraki those ideals and using them to groom him or appealing to Lady Nagant's cynicism to convince her to work for him. Part of what makes him such a ManipulativeBastard is that whatever the reason for those people's convictions, he's convincing them to fight to tear down one of the only things keeping him from turning Japan into his own personal dictatorship. |
| 47 | * ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Nozomu Okaya controls his gang of demonic teenage bullies through a mix of fear and charisma. This group of monster teens gets a kick out of torturing their classmates and committing crimes, but they have no real loyalty towards each other. The glue that holds them together is Nozomu. He holds them together with fear, keeping them from tearing each other apart, but it shows that while this gang of bullies has no loyalty to each other, they are genuinely devoted to him and want to get his favor. |
| 48 | * In the ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' spin-off ''Manga/SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas'', you have almost all of the above represented in Hades' army. Notably, Garuda Aiacos lead his soldiers/sailors through fear of him, and routinely killed them over minor failures or to fuel his attacks. Hades himself uses Agenda to lead Kagaho Benu, and a combination of Agenda and Birthright for most of the other Spectres. The garden variety named Spectres after their conversion via Corruption, usually do it for Sadism. Charon is motivated by money, and is in fact LawfulNeutral enough to honor a deal with the Saints and ferrying them to the shore... ''despite'' having previously betrayed them by [[spoiler:giving their payment for said crossing (Athena's hair) to Hades, allowing him to [[BroughtDownToNormal seal her powers]].]] |
| 49 | * Bishop Mozgus from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' keeps a handful of deformed sick and dying orphans, who he took in when no one else would and turned into his torturing, murdering inquisitorial hitmen, making them a combination of Acceptance, Kindness, and Indoctrination. |
| 50 | ** Griffith himself back in his Hawks days mainly worked through Respect, with Casca's recruitment being a case of Kindness and Guts' recruitment being a case of Power. Following his [[spoiler:reincarnation as Griffith again in the mortal realm after becoming Femto]], he gains a new set of demonic minions who follow him because [[spoiler:he is the fifth member of the Godhand]], making this a combination of Authority and Divine Right. Zodd becomes Griffith's personal [[TheDragon Dragon]] after being defeated by him, making this another case of Power. |
| 51 | * With the mages of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Licht from ''Manga/BlackClover'' controls them through Loyalty. The Third Eye follows him as his fellow elves who share his desire to kill all humans. The human mages of the group follow him through a combination of Agenda, Acceptance, and Respect out of a desire to ascend to their true forms, his acceptance of them regardless of their background, and respect of him as a god-like figure. However, it's revealed to be a farce for them as he never considered them to be his comrades and only used them to be marked as sacrifices for the elves' reincarnation. |
| 52 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Aizen keeps the more rowdy and unruly Espada such as Grimmjow in line through intimidation and manipulation. The other Arrancar follow Aizen faithfully as they believe him to be a man without any shred of fear, something they find inspiring. |
| 53 | * ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Any demons created from Muzan's blood are kept under his thumb through sheer terror, as anything done to displease him will lead to a brutal death. Only the most powerful demons among the Twelve Kizuki are granted a degree of leniency, as strength is something he greatly values in his subordinates. |
| 54 | * ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': |
| 55 | ** Most of the bad guys control their minions through Fear and Power, and not a little bit of Sadism to boot. |
| 56 | ** Raoh commanded men whose true nature was that of "demons that eat people," meaning that he had to be a "demon that consumes demons" in order to suppress them. Because of being one of the two most powerful practitioners of Hokuto Shinken on the planet (the other being Kenshiro), he is able to keep his mooks in line well enough when he is at full strength. But unlike several of the other bad guys of the series, he does not give them free rein to indulge their worst sides upon the people under his rule, and after returning from his period of laying low after his first battle with Kenshiro and seeing the atrocities in which his men had been indulging in his absence, he punishes them in ''ruthless'' fashion. |
| 57 | * ''Mazinger'': |
| 58 | ** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Dr. Hell controlled his lackeys through a mix of Acceptance, Loyalty, MindControl, and Sadism. All his {{Mooks}} were brainwashed cyborgs and his {{Robeast}}s were mindless monsters controlled through a remote control. Most of their CoDragons were loyal mostly because they were alive thanks to him... and because he punished disloyalty and failure harshly (he always avoided YouHaveFailedMe scenarios, though). Those who were not mind-controlled or afraid of his power and sadism, though, were prone to rebel [[spoiler:and in the case of Gorgon, he responded to another authority]]. |
| 59 | ** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': Great Emperor of Darkness was a GodEmperor, so he used Authority, Fear, Loyalty, Power, and Divine Right. His minions were loyal and respected his authority because he had protected the whole Mykene civilization when they were forced to hide underground, and because its power [[spoiler:(in ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', his real identity was Hades)]]. |
| 60 | ** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': King Vega used Authority (he was his planet's ruler), Loyalty (his minions were very loyal), Fear, and Acceptance (he was a bastard, but he cared for his people. He started his conquering campaigns to find a new homeworld for them). |
| 61 | * The early ''Manga/OnePiece'' villains, Alvida, Morgan, Buggy, Kuro, and Don Krieg were all huge fans of Power and Fear (incidentally, this was a pet peeve for Luffy). Arlong, however, averted this completely: his crew are genuine TrueCompanions. From there onwards, the villains became more varied in their methods. |
| 62 | ** Alvida and Buggy, the only recurring early villains, later switched to Love and Respect, respectively. |
| 63 | ** Doflamingo is notable for using almost ''all of the above''. For the general populace of the kingdom he rules, he uses a combination of Power, Fear, and Authority. For his lower-ranked subordinates, it's all of those mixed in with genuine Respect (from some of them) and Fear of Losing Privileges. For his top-ranked subordinates it's a combination of Respect and Popular Sovereignty (they chose to follow him at a young age after seeing his power). Doflamingo himself believes that he derives authority from Birthright/Divine Right since [[spoiler:he's a World Noble whose family left Marejois to live with commoners, which Doflamingo resents greatly]], even though he technically no longer has authority in that capacity. He also attempted to use Tykebomb Indoctrination and Corruption on Law as a kid [[spoiler:(although it failed thanks to his brother's interference)]] and uses Money to get the government to look the other way. |
| 64 | * Medusa of ''Manga/SoulEater'' controls Eruka with Fear (via ExplosiveLeash), Crona through Fear and Indoctrination (what with being Crona's mother), the Mizune sisters through Revenge (they think the DWMA killed their oldest sister, which was actually Medusa), and Free through Kindness (for breaking him out of jail). Arachne controls all of hers through Blind Obedience and Love, except [[AntiVillain Mifune]], to whom she has Incidental Importance (Arachephobia provides a means to protect [[MoralityPet Angela]]). |
| 65 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Dio Brando is willing to use every trick in the book to recruit minions. Want money? Name your price. Want sex? Male or female, he's totally willing. In an emotionally vulnerable position and looking for guidance? Dio's happy to show the way. Are you a dyed-in-the-wool sadist, hedonist, or just all-around asshole? Dio will give you the means to indulge your basest desires. Still don't want to join? Well, he's got [[MindControl flesh buds]] for that. |
| 66 | * ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': General Esdeath is the most feared woman in the Empire and noted as a brutal {{Sadist}} that does things like burying entire tribes alive. But then it turns out that her forces are so loyal to her because she is [[AFatherToHisMen a Mother to her Men]], always having her meals alongside the common troops and requesting that any reward she earns be shared among their families. She has high expectations for those serving her, but shows such genuine Kindness to them that almost all have UndyingLoyalty to her as a result. |
| 67 | * ''Anime/KillLaKill'': Two contrasting examples appear in Episode 15. Takarada controls his people with money, but Kiryuin shows him that fear is a much more controlling force by striking his people's hearts and making them scatter. |
| 68 | * ''Manga/DragonBall'': Frieza is a ''big'' fan of Fear and Power. He's orders of magnitude more powerful than the rest of his subordinates put together and a {{Sadist}} that has no problem with killing them for trivial reasons. So they have little choice but to obey him. |
| 69 | ** Ginyu also mentions in ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' that Frieza's army appeals to [[BloodKnight those who want glorious combat]] or [[TheBully to bully the weak]], [[ShinyNewAustralia hands out conquered worlds as benefits to particularly successful warriors]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and provides free dental]]. |
| 70 | * ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': While not minions per se, Akito keeps the Sohma family under his thumb through fear. When Yuki forgives him and makes it clear [[NotAfraidOfYouAnymore he's no longer afraid of him]], Akito [[FreakOut flips out]] since it means his power over the Zodiac is waning. |
| 71 | * ''Literature/Overlord2012'': |
| 72 | ** Ainz controls the minions of Nazarick through fanatical loyalty. Due to their original nature as NPC creations of his guild, when they were brought to life in the New World they all worship him as a Supreme Being and are utterly devoted to him body and soul. The only things that can sway them are their loyalty to their creators (if any NPC had to choose between Ainz or their creator they would choose their creator) or [[spoiler:as seen with the case of Shaltear]] Downfall of Castle and Country, a World Item with the power to dominate the mind of any being. Ainz nonetheless doesn't want to rely on this entirely and tries his best to be a BenevolentBoss to them. One of the ways Emperor Jircniv is EntertaininglyWrong about Ainz is that he ''thinks'' Ainz is a tyrant who controls his minions through fear and thus believes there's a chance to turn someone in Nazarick against Ainz. Demiurge already predicted this and finds this hilarious. |
| 73 | ** Outside of Nazarick, it varies: |
| 74 | *** The Lizardmen fall under Power since their culture already revolved around AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. After they surrender to Ainz, his sheer power is enough to convince them to worship him as a god. This is all the more impressive since the Lizardmen never worshiped gods in the past. |
| 75 | *** The Dwarven Runesmiths get Material Benefits. Ainz won them over by offering to support their dream of reviving Runecraft. |
| 76 | *** The human population of the Sorceror Kingdom are a mixed bag. They're controlled through fear mostly, but they also learn to appreciate the prosperity and peace (even if said peace is enforced through Death Knights). It helps that Ainz has arranged controlled opposition in the form of Pandora's Actor acting as "Dark Warrior Momon", the heroic identity Ainz cultivated early in the series. "Momon" both grants the people a sense of security and informs Ainz of any concerns the people are too afraid to say to his face. |
| 77 | *** Most, unsurprisingly, are controlled through fear. Emperor Jircniv eventually surrenders the Empire to be a vassal state since he's utterly convinced he cannot win against Ainz. The Trolls and the Naga of the Great Forest submit to Ainz when it becomes clear that he can and will slaughter them all if they don't. The Frost Dragons also do the same after he instantly killed their patriarch and one of his sons. The Quagoa are cowed into serving him after Shaltear slaughtered them (she would have wiped them out ''entirely'' if they didn't agree to personally cull their own numbers down to 10,000 -- they were originally 60,000). |
| 78 | * ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Toguro, out of all his subordinates, only his brother has anything resembling loyalty to him. The others only serve out of fear of death at his hands for refusing. |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 82 | * ''ComicBook/EarthwormJim2019'': Bob can only control others by tapping into their fear. Once he learned that cats fear water, he was able to enslave an entire planet filled with them. |
| 83 | * ''ComicBook/NewGods'': DIE! DIE! DIE FOR [[ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} DARKSEID]]! And the people of Apokolips obey, out of a combination of Fear, Sadism, Power, Divine Right, and Indoctrination. He has also used Corruption and/or Mind Control on occasion as well, but those tend to be less permanent. In ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', Darkseid creates cloned Servants so they are absolutely loyal to him, and uses to mind-control to dominate the whole Daxamite race. |
| 84 | * Emperor Golgoth from ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'' controls his lieutenants by giving them a highly addictive SuperSerum that only he knows how to synthesize. |
| 85 | * ComicBook/AmandaWaller controls the ComicBook/SuicideSquad via cranial bombs. When she works with heroes [[spoiler:or the first iteration of the Squad]], she buys their Loyalty via Money or Information. More subtly, she keeps them in line with Prejudice, carefully selecting the Squad members from the worst dregs of humanity to make ''damn'' sure they know they're irredeemable and that the Squad is probably the only good thing they are gonna ever be a part of. Authority and Respect are part of her arsenal as well. |
| 86 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Evil Sonic/Scourge the Hedgehog, Sonic's MirrorUniverse [[EvilTwin counterpart]], is a big fan of Fear and Power. He controls the Anti-Freedom Fighters Suppression Squad and Destructix by beating them and making them terrified of him. In fact, this is how he controls most people he works with, as Jules-Prime notes. When confronted by someone who won't back down to his threats or let themselves be cowed by him, Scourge [[DirtyCoward folds like a lawn chair]]. |
| 87 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Paula von Gunther controlled her minions through a combination of Fear and Brainwashing, which Mala and Diana used to turn them against her while working to rehabilitate them, showing that Love is more powerful than Fear. |
| 88 | * ''ComicBook/BuckyOHareAndTheToadWars'': The Toad Empire is totally and completely under Komplex's control, despite the fact that the Toads are clearly in control of their own mental faculties. This is done through subconscious brainwashing carried in television signals, which most of the Toads find addicting, but not debilitating. To non-Toads, the content of those signals act as MindRape, implying that the Toads have been conditioned to accept this. However, if given enough time and effort, Komplex can manipulate these signals to empty the minds of non-Toads and directly reprogram them to serve him. |
| 89 | * ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': |
| 90 | ** In ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', Worldkiller-1 body-snatched the King of the Diasporans. The Diasporans aren't aware of this, so they keep obeying their ruler's orders out of loyalty, duty and respect, even if said orders are morally repugnant. Likewise, Worldkiller-1 is persuasive and charismatic enough to convince doubters and dissenters of his point of view when they express concerns. |
| 91 | ** In ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'', Lesla-Lar uses subtle Mind-Control to influence her minions into attacking ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}; their control is so subtle that they do not even question why there is a voice in their heads goading them into opposing Kara. |
| 92 | ** In ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'', crime lord Starfire controls her mooks through Money and fear: she pays them handsomely when they do their job well and gets them shot when they suck at it. |
| 93 | ** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', [[BigBad Karmang]] uses powerful spells to summon and intimidate ComicBook/BlackAdam and [[ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore the Sand Superman]] into doing his bidding. |
| 94 | ** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', General Dru-Zod becomes the leader of the Phantom Zoners on the basis that he is the only one of them who has actual military training and knows how to strategize and conduct a war. |
| 95 | ** ''ComicBook/DeathAndTheFamily'': Insect Queen controls her legions of giant insect mooks through Authority: she is their creator, their queen, and is smarter than them. |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 99 | * ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': [[Characters/CodePrimeMegatron Megatron]] has different ways to control each of his minions. |
| 100 | ** Starscream: Fear - Megatron is amply aware of Starscream's backstabbing tendencies, so he regularly intimidates his second in command to ensure he knows his place. |
| 101 | ** Soundwave: Kindness/Power - Megatron originally earned the loyalty of his CommunicationsOfficer by besting him in battle, but the two have a genuine VillainousFriendship. |
| 102 | ** Breakdown: Power - Breakdown's loyalty to Megatron is derived solely from Megatron besting him in battle. |
| 103 | ** Knockout and Shockwave: Material Benefits/Sadism - Megatron maintains the loyalty of his scientists by allowing them to work without any ethical constraints. |
| 104 | ** Airachnid: Sadism - before she left the Decepticons, Airachnid served Megatron because she enjoyed being given free rein to hurt people whenever she wanted to. Later adds fear to this when Airachnid's sadism begins to compromise her effectiveness in combat. |
| 105 | ** Dreadwing and Suzaku: Obligation - Dreadwing swore an oath to serve Megatron and refuses to renege on it, while Suzaku doesn't really trust Megatron, but follows him both because Megatron outranks him and promised to help him try and reform Britannia. [[BlatantLies Megatron obviously has no intent on following through with his promise]]. [[spoiler:Both Suzaku and Dreadwing eventually defect because they no longer feel obligated to serve him after his actions at the SAZ]]. |
| 106 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Game Theory|LyricalNanoha}}'', Precia controls Fate through Love and Indoctrination [[spoiler:and Nanoha through Agenda and Respect]]. |
| 107 | * ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has the criminal known as [[BadassArmy Twenty]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Gyarados]] [[TomTheDarkLord Bill]] who inspires a lot of devotion in his Gyarados, ensuring that they would follow him to the bitter end through pure loyalty. |
| 108 | * In ''Fanfic/ThroughALookingGlassDarkly'', Fear for their loved ones, Drugs, and the power of Social Engineering are the Queen of Hearts' tools. If it works for you, you can also kill people For the Evulz (with the Queen's permission, of course); if none of this does, it's either Brainwashing or off with your head. |
| 109 | * In ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'', [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Mordru]] controls his minions through sheer Fear, since he's powerful enough to easily annihilate whoever incurs his displeasure. As for ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, he controls them through a blend of fear and indoctrination, but in the second story arc he intends to learn the Anti-Life Equation in order to mind-control ''everyone'' in the whole ''universe''. |
| 110 | * ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Traditionally, Keepers go for fear, money, sadism, and corruption. Naturally, this is one of the problems Ami faces when she becomes the newest Keeper. |
| 111 | * ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': |
| 112 | ** Jaune initially says that his mother (who his friends believe is merely a ruthless real estate agent) controls her people through fear. When he realizes how horrified his friends are, he awkwardly amends this to saying she uses love instead. While his friends [[MistakenForProfound think this was an excellent way of explaining different leadership styles]], he was telling the truth. While everyone under his mother's command does so out of mutual respect and love for her family, they are also well aware that she can slaughter any of them if they ever step out of line. |
| 113 | ** Weiss' father also uses fear, but of a more incompetent version. Jaune's mother is personally the strongest individual in the world, and she has an invincible army that obeys her every whim; her subordinates are well aware of how dangerous she is without her ever having to threaten anyone. Weiss' father is just a big bully trying to get every last penny out of his subordinates. |
| 114 | ** Ironwood uses his position as a general to engender loyalty in his troops, as well as respect in his success rate. When things get rough, he doesn't expect blind obedience, and explains to his men why they need to obey his specific orders. |
| 115 | ** Weiss mixes these together on advice from her friends and Ozpin. She explains her orders as best she can, which slowly grows the kind of respect where she doesn't need to explain in an emergency. Ozpin also suggests that allowing her team to disobey her orders and fail (especially on things with minor consequences, like studying) will cause them to be more likely to obey her in the future than just trying to force the issue. |
| 116 | ** Cinder controls all her minions through fear, either of her directly or her alliance with Salem. Unlike Salem, she doesn't have the raw power to make this work, and her minions all leave her one by one. [[spoiler:Roman jumps ship to Salem's daughter Lavender (who in turn controls him by pretending to be a naive little girl who needs help but can still protect him through her mother), Adam jumps ship when Cinder tries to cancel the plan, Mercury jumps ship when he realizes his girlfriend Velvet is in danger, and Emerald jumps ship when Cinder leaves her behind after the Battle of Beacon]]. Emerald ends up working for Weiss, who finds a rather easy way to control her: Pay her a fair salary. |
| 117 | * ''Fanfic/APieceOfRebellion'': Fear, Authority and Indoctrination are Lord Business' favorite methods. He's self-aware enough to recognize that while Emmet falls under the latter two, applying the first will probably break him. |
| 118 | * In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', Lex Luthor controls his goons and crooks through fear-induced loyalty. They're well aware that he can and will dispose of them at any time if they betray him or incur his displeasure or anger. |
| 119 | * ''Fanfic/DanceWithTheDemons'': Kobra leads a cult of duly-indoctrinated terrorists who are fanatically loyal to his cause. |
| 120 | * ''Fanfic/ARabbitAmongWolves'': |
| 121 | ** Adam [[PosthumousCharacter controlled]] his branch of the White Fang by being a abusive dick, including the threat of beheading, to keep his minions in line. However, when Jaune accidentally kills him, this leads to none of them actually mourning his demise. |
| 122 | ** Jaune himself initially relies on fear his minions have for him after his accidental killing of Adam. But gradually, he wins them over with Respect, his plans to reform the fang, and his genuinely genial personality. |
| 123 | * ''Fanfic/FateRevelationOnline'': |
| 124 | ** [=PoH=] controls the player-killer guild through a combination of [[AxCrazy them all being equally crazy]], opportunities for both excitement and safety, and of course murdering people who threaten him. |
| 125 | ** Rosalia controls her guild through PragmaticVillainy; they're not player-killers, but they are criminals, and she encourages them to keep their crimes light because when they escape the death game the actual murderers will likely get punished (even though she doesn't think Kayaba is actually killing people), while the thieves like them will be fine. However, above all else she just likes being in control, so she makes it so that her boys feel like they can't survive without her. |
| 126 | ** Ilya explains that you need to consider this with familiars. Since they are, by nature, entities that can make decisions independently of you, if you make them too smart they might realize they're slaves and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn against you]]. The standard familiar bond manipulates them emotionally, and she recommends keeping them less intelligent so they can't get out of it--though she also points out that, for all the flaws of Keita's animated furniture, they'll never turn against him. Of course, she herself is an ArtificialHuman who hates her family, so she would know. |
| 127 | ** On the more positive side, Diabel is the leader of the playerbase by dint of his reputation as [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure the most reasonable, most effective leader they could possibly have]]. He puts almost as much effort into keeping the rest of the players engaged and productive as he does on making sure the Front Line is advancing steadily. He's worried that there will eventually be a DifficultySpike that makes them stall, which could endanger everything. Their entire society is based on the Front Line advancing; people define their jobs and social standing on whether they are Front Liners, Mid Liners, Rear Liners, or Side Liners. If the Front Line fails to stay ahead of the Mid Line, then everything would fall apart. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[/folder]] |
| 130 | |
| 131 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 132 | * The Red Queen of Hearts in the 2010 ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' (and in most other incarnations, really) leads through a combination of Fear and Birthright. |
| 133 | * Destro in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' has minions via: Mind Control, Money, and Sadism. |
| 134 | * TheEmpire from ''Franchise/StarWars'' almost completely relies on Fear. Also on an Agenda of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, combined with {{Black Shirt}}s. [[TheRemnant The First Order]] from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' relies more on Authority. |
| 135 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' reveals that Palpatine controlled the original Clone Troopers through organic inhibitor chips in their brains. "Execute Order 66" was the TriggerPhrase for them to [[ThePurge assassinate the Jedi]]. |
| 136 | * M. Bison in ''Film/StreetFighter'' uses money and Agenda to motivate his forces. And, had the process not been tampered with, brainwashing for Blanka. |
| 137 | * Swackhammer, the BigBad of ''Film/SpaceJam'', uses Fear to back up Authority. Once Fear goes away, Karma is delivered to him. |
| 138 | * Faramir brings it up as a DiscussedTrope concerning the "Fear" and "Indoctrination" bit in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers''. |
| 139 | --> ''"What lies or threats led him to forsake his home? And would he not have rather stayed there?"'' |
| 140 | * The BigBad of ''Film/District13'', Taha Ben Mahmud, rules purely through money. His deep and far-reaching pockets manage to buy him a literal army of roid-fed gunmen complete with vehicles and a fully-functioning fortress. His being a BadBoss is mostly being endured by his underlings due to the sheer amount of cash he doles out. Before the climax of the movie, TheGovernment managed to drain all his overseas account. The minions promptly kill him after learning that. |
| 141 | * And sometimes no one knows. In ''Film/ABoyAndHisDog'', Vic (the boy) and Blood (the dog) see the leader of a roving gang go nuts and stomp one of his own men to death. Through their telepathic link, Vic asks why anyone would follow a lunatic like that. Blood (clearly the brains of the operation) answers "I don't know. Charisma?" |
| 142 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Wish2023'', [[SorcererKing King Magnifico]] uses a combination of Material Benefits and Mind Control. The king has the power to grant people's wishes, so people become citizens of Rosas to see their wishes come true. What they don't know is that Magnifico only grants wishes he believes will benefit ''him'' and his kingdom, leaving the vast majority holding out vain hope for a wish he will never grant (in his VillainSong, he mentions having granted fourteen wishes last year out of the ''hundreds'' he took). The process of giving their wish to Magnifico also causes LaserGuidedAmnesia so no one can remember ''what'' they wish for, meaning they can't try and make their own dreams come true, making them more dependent on Magnifico's supposed generosity. |
| 143 | * Sybok, the AntiVillain of ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', uses a combination of kindness and MoreThanMindControl. He uses his telepathic powers to make people relive their most painful memories and then banishes the pain associated with them; the result is gratitude and unquestioning loyalty. |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 147 | * ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': Visser Three uses fear, usually of death. |
| 148 | * In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', Invidia Aquitaine controls most of her minions through Money, and got Fidelias on her side because he thinks that of all the factions in the succession crisis, she and her husband will be the least destructive to Alera (Being the Lesser Evil). [[spoiler:Fidelias ends up betraying her when a non-evil option comes up — the protagonist, Tavi.]] |
| 149 | ** Lord Kalarus mostly uses Mind Control in the form of slave collars that cause pleasure when the collared obeys the orders of whoever put the collar on and pain when they try to defy said orders. Training slaves who'd been collared since childhood resulted in troops known as the Immortals — perfectly obedient soldiers who FeelNoPain and will quite willingly sacrifice their lives to protect their master or complete a mission. On people whose minds he needs intact (or who he can't get to with the collars), he uses Money or Fear — he takes hostages and uses those to force their compliance. |
| 150 | ** The Vord Queen also likes Mind Control. Other Vord obey her because she's the HiveQueen, and she recruits humans to her side using slave collars. She controls [[spoiler:Invidia]] through Fear (as she's on life support that the Vord Queen can cut off at any time), and [[spoiler:Brencis]] through Material Benefits — he hit the DespairEventHorizon after [[spoiler:the destruction of Kalare]] and now follows her because she allows him to indulge his hedonistic impulses in exchange for serving her. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': The evil MadGod Torak claims Divine Right over the Angarak people. He controls the priest and warrior castes through Indoctrination; the merchants and peasants, through Fear of his ReligionOfEvil and its love of HumanSacrifice. As [[TrappedInVillainy Zedar the Apostate]] learned the hard way when he tried to become TheMole, he also uses Mind Control on those who serve him directly, enslaving them to his will. |
| 152 | * Dr. Franklin of ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'' inspires great loyalty in most of his staff, who he allows to believe he's still working on behalf of the American government. He's quite charismatic and commands a lot of respect, and doesn't allow most of them to see or know just how amoral some of the work really is. Semi also notes that she can't really blame them for helping him [[TestedOnHumans test]] on her and Miranda because otherwise he'd be experimenting on ''their'' children. His assistant Dr. Skinner [[ReluctantMadScientist still has a conscience]] but is swayed by the potential of the work, by some unspecified sins that mean he can't get this kind of work anywhere else, and once just by a gun, though Dr. Franklin then [[WelcomeBackTraitor forgives him and brings him back into the fold]]. |
| 153 | * As it's about TheIlluminati, almost all of the above techniques are represented in ''Literature/{{Duumvirate}}'' to some extent. Although we never see excerpts, the title characters own a "big book of control techniques". Normals are controlled through Authority, Money, Fear, Indoctrination, Power, and Divine Right, unwitting normal power-holders are usually controlled through Corruption (of the political, not supernatural, variety) and presumably Money, and for servants, MindControl implants are used instead of Fear and Power strategies, but instilling true Indoctrination/Kindness/Love-based loyalty is considered best. TheIlluminati also have a tendency to use Power and Love on each other along with various flavors of deception. The Duumvirate themselves rule through Authority, Birthright, Power, and Agenda. |
| 154 | * ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' universe: |
| 155 | ** House Atreides uses respect, usually achieved through a mix of genuine kindness and deliberate propaganda (indoctrination) to earn the fanatical devotion of their underlings. |
| 156 | ** House Harkonnen uses mostly fear for the populace and corruption for their minions (i.e. exploitation of their addictions). |
| 157 | ** The Honoured Matres hold their minions in sexual thrall. Sex with an Honoured Matre is literally an addictive drug, and you will go anywhere and do anything to anyone to get more of it. Note that there only appear to be male minions, as would-be female minions all seem to become Honoured Matres themselves. |
| 158 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Voldemort uses different motivations for different minions; Fear (Pettigrew), Agenda (the Malfoys, most Death Eaters), Sadism (Bellatrix, Fenrir, Dementors), Loyalty (Bellatrix again), Acceptance (Giants, Werewolves). |
| 159 | * In ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' minions are usually kept in line by fear. |
| 160 | ** The overall BigBad, Ma'ar, was initially ANaziByAnyOtherName and came to power partially by persecuting "decadent foreigners" and preaching racial ideology, but it's noted that he was capable of inspiring genuine loyalty in his followers. After his death he proceeded to [[FamilialBodySnatcher possess his descendants]] and return again and again, a process that gradually [[VillainDecay made his faculties decay]] and made him increasingly more savage and StupidEvil. By the time he's Mornelithe Falconsbane he's barely restraining himself enough to avoid a revolt of his followers and uses a lot of mind control. |
| 161 | ** After the ''Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy'', Vanyel's astonishing feats of war magic [[NiceJobBreakingItHero led to]] a CorruptChurch taking over the country of Karse, who preserved and stoked great fear of Heralds' powers and ascribed a lot of new ones to them. This was not helped by Lavan in ''Brightly Burning'', whose SuperpowerMeltdown was frankly ''spectacular'' and ended a war in a day. |
| 162 | ** In ''By the Sword'' Ancar creates a massive ZergRush army by rounding up large numbers of his own people and slaughtering all but the able-bodied men, gathering BloodMagic and using it to control them. A mage is able to break the spell on one of these armies, which immediately turns on its commanding officers and [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal switches sides]]. The haunted-looking men have poor recollections of their lives before their loved ones were horribly murdered and want nothing more than to die fighting the people responsible. |
| 163 | * The Boskonian Empire of the Literature/{{Lensman}} universe uses a combination of fear and greed. If you're not good enough to stop your minions from killing and supplanting you and taking all your stuff, too bad for you. Meanwhile, on Boskonian warships, the lash is used to keep men at their posts in combat (and when the good guys realise this, they start adapting their combat tactics to make use of it). |
| 164 | * In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Sauron primarily uses fear, with a dash of MindControl (more than a dash in the case of the Ringwraiths), sadism (Orcs enjoy killing things, Sauron gives them lots of stuff to kill), and of course power (he's a demigod). Saruman controlled the Men under his command during the Battle of Helm's Deep through fear of his power, prejudice against the Rohirrim, and the Point of No Return. This last was what made Aragorn's sparing them after the battle so effective, since Saruman had instilled in them the belief that the Rohirrim would show them no mercy. |
| 165 | * In ''{{Literature/Malevil}}'', Fulbert's CorruptChurch rules through selfishness and sadism. [[spoiler:Vilmain rules his marauder army through fear]]. |
| 166 | * [[GodEmperor The Lord Ruler]] from ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' mixes several of these: Power (being a OneManArmy PhysicalGod), Divine Right (he's regarded ''as'' the Avatar of God in his empire), and Being the Lesser Evil (he won his throne by defeating an OmnicidalManiac). He also uses different tactics on different social classes, controlling the [[SlaveRace skaa]] through fear, the [[AristocratsAreEvil nobility]] through bread and circuses (the nobility can indulge themselves practically any way they want, so long as they don't question the system or work against the Lord Ruler himself), and the [[CorruptChurch Obligators]] through Authority as the head of their religion. |
| 167 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 168 | ** Tywin Lannister uses a combination of Fear and Sadism. In one hand, he keeps his bannermen in line using his sinister reputation for DisproportionateRetribution towards those that slight him. On the other hand, he employs several psychos-for-hire, sadists, and thugs like [[TheBrute the Mountain]] and the [[CarnivalOfKillers Brave Companions]] who follow him because he gives them free reign to terrorize peasants with impunity. |
| 169 | ** Stannis Baratheon rallies his supporters using Authority claiming his kingship through legality (Birthright) and later invoking Divine Right when he is declared the [[TheChosenOne Warrior of Light]] by his priestess. |
| 170 | ** The Targaryens used Power to unite the Seven Kingdoms into one, since they used dragons which gave them free reign to do as they wanted. After the death of their dragons, their descendants ruled using Birthright to remain in power until they were eventually ousted by Robert Baratheon. |
| 171 | * In ''Literature/TheStand'', Randall Flagg mostly rules his people through fear (it helps that he's an EldritchAbomination in human form and that just looking at his face sends people into paroxysms of terror). Only Lloyd, Nadine, and the Trashcan Man seem to be genuinely devoted to him. |
| 172 | * The Empire in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', having leaders who range up and down the villain scale, checks off all of the above with a flourish. Specific leaders include: |
| 173 | ** [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]], [[ALighterShadeOfGrey less evil than the others]], used Money for mercenary types, Authority on some Imperials and the Noghri, Indoctrination on clones, Fear on the Noghri and sometimes his Imperials, Sadism (sort of) with C'baoth, and for the others... Respect. He knew that it's best to be feared ''and'' loved, and put a high value on people who were both loyal and competent. This is demonstrated beautifully by two incidents in the Thrawn trilogy, one in the first book and one in the second, both involving Luke Skywalker escaping from the Star Destroyer's tractor beams. In the first, the tractor beam operator says it wasn't his fault, and he wasn't trained for such an occurrence. Thrawn has the operator killed, because it was part of the standard training. In the second, Skywalker used a different trick, and the operator tried to find a way around it, but failed. Thrawn promotes him and assigns him the task of trying to break that particular evasion technique, since no one's done so before, and the operator's attempt, while a failure, showed commendable grace under pressure and an ability to think quickly. Pellaeon, Thrawn's subordinate, notes that a new Empire has just been born. |
| 174 | --->Thrawn was respected and trusted. Thrawn used a small measure of fear, certainly: the Grand Admiral realized that [[YouHaveFailedMe fear of failure]] was a powerful motivating force in a military the size of the Empire. But Thrawn's ability to invoke a sense of ''pride'' in his troops was his most powerful asset. Palpatine inspired arrogance and callousness in his officers; Thrawn made his men proud to be Imperial soldiers. Thrawn's officers would have willingly died for the Grand Admiral. |
| 175 | ** [[Literature/XWingSeries Ysanne Isard]], [[TheSpymaster head of Imperial Intelligence]] and de facto ruler of the Empire for a time after Palpatine's death, primarily used Fear of [[YouHaveFailedMe deadly punishment for failure]], whether against the minions themselves or their [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure loved ones]], but was also adept at using MindControl to break down prisoners into {{Manchurian Agent}}s, as well as Revenge to motivate specific assets - she let Kirtan Loor know that Corran Horn, a rival from their time in [[SpacePolice CorSec]], had joined Rogue Squadron when tasking him to destroy them, then leaked information so Horn would know Loor killed Horn's former partner, giving Loor additional incentive to deal with his enemy. But as other villains pointed out, the huge drawback of Isard's leadership style was that her minions had no rosy future to look forward to, only the certainty that at some point they'd screw up and she'd kill them. This led some of her subordinates to abandon her when Isard tried her hand at running a war and [[MotiveDecay started prioritizing sating her thirst for revenge rather than rationally pursuing her faction's interest]], contributing to her eventual downfall. Another problem was Isard's disinterest in using Authority to rule, resulting in her [[ThePlan plan]] to destroy the New Republic by letting them capture Coruscant after seeding the world with a SyntheticPlague targeting non-humans - if it had worked, it might have splintered the Rebellion apart, but its first step involved ''surrendering the Imperial capital'', a huge blow to loyalist morale. Ultimately, Isard was focused on destroying the Rebels through any means necessary, not preserving the Empire, which was why she had to ''rent'' capital ships from other Imperial warlords rather than requisitioning them. |
| 176 | ** [[spoiler:Cronal]] from ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' proclaims himself as the temporary successor to Palpatine, and thus piggybacks off the loyalty the Stormtroopers had for the Emperor. [[spoiler:When that starts to break down, he takes direct control of them via meltmassif.]] |
| 177 | * ''Literature/TrappedOnDraconica'': Gothon uses Fear. He has a mysterious power that allows him to kill without touching, and fear of punishment for his inner circle. [[spoiler:How he keeps Taurok under control; the general's daughter-in-law and granddaughter are marked for death unless he obeys the emperor.]] |
| 178 | * Subverted in ''Literature/CaptainVorpatrilsAlliance''. The Barrayarans presumed that the Jewels, Baronne Cordona's genetically modified "dance troupe" of spies and enforcers, had received loyalty conditioning when they were actually just as much her children as their more normal-appearing siblings and were loyal out of love, as the good Captain learned when he discovered his love interest's "bodyguard" was actually her [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Knight Templar Big Sister]]. |
| 179 | * In ''The Impossible Virgin'', a Literature/ModestyBlaise novel, Brunel controls his minions through fear and hatred: they fear him, and hate each other. Most of them hate him, too, but won't do anything about it because if they try to kill him and fail they know what he'll do to them, and if they succeed they know what the others will do to them. [[spoiler:Then one of them discovers a way to turn one of Brunel's own plots against him, taking him out without leaving any pointer to who did it, and doesn't hesitate to use it]]. |
| 180 | * The Dark One in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' uses a combination of these motivations on his followers; Agenda / Promises of power (universal), Fear (universal), Corruption (anyone who gets Turned), Revenge (Sammael, Demandred, Mesaana), Mind Control (Compulsion on various victims, Mind Traps), Sadism (Aginor, Semirhage), Indoctrination (Darkfriends). Ishamael/Moridin is probably the weirdest, as he is controlled through genuine Loyalty that is either because he believes ''himself'' to be an avatar of the Dark One (as Ba'alzamon) or because [[spoiler:he genuinely wants the world to end so he can permanently die, and the Dark One is the only one who can give him that]]. Of course, as the last book points out, in most cases the Dark One has no real capacity to inspire true Loyalty (Ishamael, the insane nihilist, being a notable exception); people may serve the Dark One for any of the above reasons, but ''nobody'' really believes in the Shadow as a worthwhile cause or is willing to die for it. |
| 181 | ** In ''A Memory of Light'', we see that [[spoiler:Demandred]] is the only Forsaken whose minions follow him because they genuinely respect him, rather than out of fear or a desire for power. The other Forsaken are honestly a bit disgusted at how [[spoiler:Demandred]] "coddles" his troops, but it's pretty unquestionable that he has the most loyal, best-disciplined army on the Shadow's side by a mile. |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 185 | * ''Myth/TheWhiteWitchOfRoseHall'': Fear, torture, voodoo, sex, and murder. |
| 186 | [[/folder]] |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[folder:Live Action TV]] |
| 189 | * In ''Series/{{Andor}}'', just like everywhere else in ''Franchise/StarWars'', the Empire relies on fear and, to a lesser extent, authority. The show is quick to demonstrate the downsides to this; early on, many places subordinate to the Empire avoid reporting bad news to avoid being the victim of a YouHaveFailedMe. So, for example, the [[LawEnforcementInc corporate police]] who the Empire contracts to supervise systems without a strong Imperial presence cover up real rates of crime and other illicit activities, and when the proto-Rebellion or random thieves manage to steal important pieces of equipment and technology from the factories producing them, those factories and shipyards conceal this rather than report it, leading the Empire to severely underestimate the reach and capabilities of the Rebellion. Later in the first season we see that the way the Empire grinds people underfoot and heavy handed Imperial crackdowns increasingly pushing people too far, so instead of fearing the Empire they begin to ''hate'' it, driving more people towards both large ([[spoiler:the riot on Ferrix in the season finale]]) and small ([[spoiler:some fisherman who can't make a living because local Imperial facilities spoiled the water decline to turn in a pair of escapees from an Imperial prison, and even give the two men a ride off-planet]]) acts of defiance. |
| 190 | * ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'' has a bit of a unique spin on how main villain Sledge controls his minions, as he tends to use more methods than most Power Rangers villains do. Namely, he has obligation from his lead man Fury as he "won him" in a card game. He has fear from most of his forces to some degree, though most clearly seen with his technician Wrench. He has blind obedience from most of his foot soldiers, and Love from his Fiancee Poissandra. He has Money as an overall benefit since he's a bounty hunter trying to get rich, and on top of all that, he has Power, as he's one of the most powerful beings on the ship. |
| 191 | * ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Wilson Fisk uses a combination of authority, corruption, fear, obligation and coercion to get people to do his dirty work for him. Fear and coercion in particular happen to be the primary means by which he entraps and corrupts people, and then he uses the threat of retaliation against their loved ones to keep them in line. [[DeconstructedTrope This comes to bite him]] time and again as his underlings ''despise'' him and root for his downfall. |
| 192 | * The Founders of the Dominion from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' control their minions, the Vorta (administrators who generally as something like a MouthOfSauron for the Founders), and the Jem'Hadar (a race of bio-engineered {{Super Soldier}}s), by implanting BlindObedience into them. They also control the Jem'Hadar through rationed doses of ketracel-white, without which the Jem'Hadar will die. As for their subject races, they either use careful manipulation via infiltration or straight-up fear of being crushed by the Jem'Hadar. |
| 193 | [[/folder]] |
| 194 | |
| 195 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 196 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 197 | ** Orkz follow da biggest an' da strongest, cuz orkz is made fer fightin' an winnin'! This works out as Ork warlords leading their troops through ''Power'' from their strength, ''Fear'', because an Ork boss has to constantly prove his strength or be overthrown, and arguably ''Sadism'', though it's pretty much a norm for the Orkz. |
| 198 | ** The soldiers of the Imperium receive ''Indoctrination'' from birth toward the GodEmperor of Mankind's Divine Right, him being seen as a god (as perceived by his empire; he himself specifically said he wasn't... [[Literature/HorusHeresy it's a long story]]). ''Fear'' is exploited to keep its subjects in line as well, as the liberal use of punishment and executions employed by the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy and [[ThePoliticalOfficer the commissars]] plays a large part in keeping the Imperium's subjects and troops in line. The God-Emperor himself arguably started his empire from ''Power''. The Space Marines employ a particularly fanatical form of ''Loyalty'' -- they live to kill the Emperor's enemies; doing anything else just doesn't occur to them. |
| 199 | ** The forces of Chaos come from hope that the ''Divine Right'' of the Chaos Gods will see fit to empower and better their lot as part of their ''Agenda''. ''Sadism'' is also used abundantly, as is most Chaos forces' driving need to have things to fight. |
| 200 | --->"Enemies... we ''need'' enemies!" |
| 201 | ** Tau claim they use ''Respect'' towards their ruling caste, while others believe it's just ''Mind Control'' from said rulers. |
| 202 | * In ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'', all of the noble houses use ''Birthright'', but personal touches are in place. House Hawkwood (Atreides expy) uses ''Kindness'' and ''Respect'', House Decados (Harkonnen expy) ''Fear'' and ''Corruption'', the Hazat (military powerhouse) ''Authority'' and ''Power'', Li Halan (very religious) ''Divine Right''/''Indoctrination'' with occasional acts of ''Kindness'', House al-Malik (sly liberals) mix of ''Indoctrination'' and ''Kindness'' with ''Money'' thrown in. For a full picture: Church obviously goes for ''Divine Right'' (with some ''Kindness''), while the Guilds unsurprisingly often use ''Money''. |
| 203 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': |
| 204 | ** The Yozis like to think they control their Infernal agents through a mixture of Kindness (hey, have some power!), Divine Right (having created the world), Agenda (the Reclamation) and Power (they ''are'' planet-forging god-monsters), plus the Infernals using their Charms and thus becoming more like them. [[FaustianRebellion This is really not likely to end well for them.]] Akuma, on the other hand, have a form of Mind Control. |
| 205 | ** As for Abyssals, the Deathlords use tools ranging from religious faith (Agenda) to emotional manipulation (Love) to straightforward I'm-bigger-than-you Power, and this is ''also'' likely to end badly for them. |
| 206 | [[/folder]] |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 209 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 210 | ** [[PresidentEvil President Shinra]] of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' rules through Money. After he's violently retired by [[BigBad Sephiroth]], his son Rufus takes over, and a new rule of Fear begins (He actually [[LampshadeHanging references this]] in his introductory speech, saying he recognizes what his father was doing, and admits that it was working, but says that's just not how he rolls). |
| 211 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', President Shinra is revised to rule through a mix of Fear and Authority, preying on nationalism to justify his company's actions against the ever-present threats of Wutai and their alleged terrorist pawn AVALANCHE. Rufus drops his former introductory speech, leaving the question of how he'll rule compared to his father up in the air. |
| 212 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', it is revealed that [=LeBlanc=] keeps her minions with kindness, helping them when they were down-and-out. This only partly explains why they risk their lives in battle for her, of course. |
| 213 | * Galcian from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' uses his Authority as the Grand Admiral of the Valua Navy and switches to a mixture of Agenda, Power, and Loyalty once he defects: Most of the navy sees him as a better alternative to the nation's incompetent royals. The main exceptions two of his fellow Admirals: He uses Kindness on his [[TheDragon second-in-command]], [[{{Tykebomb}} Ramirez]], by treating him as his adoptive son (seemingly genuine) and Love on Belleza (faked). |
| 214 | * ''VideoGame/DefJamSeries'': A major theme in ''Def Jam Fight For New York'' is the contrast between [[BigBad Crow]], who leads with Fear, and [[BigGood D-Mob]], who leads with Respect. |
| 215 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' |
| 216 | ** It's stated/suggested in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokemon Crystal]]'' that Pokémon take on the characteristics of their trainers, and will follow orders because they want to make that trainer happy, whether his/her intentions are good or bad. |
| 217 | ** Ghetsis of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' leads Team Plasma with variations on Loyalty — most of the grunts follow because of his Agenda, his son was Indoctrinated, and he apparently saved the Shadow Triad from something long ago, so they follow him because of Kindness. |
| 218 | ** Guzma in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is [[spoiler:one of]] the antagonists who leads Team Skull out of Sadism and Kindness. Team Skull itself is a delinquent organization of various youths who are simply up to no good. Guzma acts like a young teenage rebel despite being much older than his subordinates, and initially comes off as irresponsible... but his gang is willing to beg your help later in the game for him, and diehard believe in Guzma's ideals. As you make your way through the game, you realize this is because Guzma is an outcast much like them, and accepts them as they are, giving them a community of delinquents, but a community nonetheless that cares about each other. As such, they indulge in their worst behaviors and harass much of the islands, but care about each other like a big family. |
| 219 | * ''[[VideoGame/TrailsSeries The Legend of Heroes - Trails]]'': Averted with [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Ouroboros]]. With the exception of Campanella, who acts like an observer of sorts for The Grandmaster, all of the Enforcers are free to do whatever they wish - they have no obligation to obey orders given to them by the Anguis, or even by the Grandmaster, and are even free to drop out of the organization if they wish (and a few of them have). It has been acknowledged by characters in-game to be peculiar that Ouroboros can function despite this. This is however played straight with certain Ouroboros members such as Weissmann, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', who had no qualms about using brainwashing and emotional manipulation to keep people in line. |
| 220 | * The eponymous ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' is a complex case. On the one hand, Minions' service is ancient and traditional, making it a mix of Authority and Indoctrination. On the other, you personally save their hives from captivity, provide them with equipment and mounts, showing Kindness and earning their Respect. You allow (and command!) them to loot, pillage, and slaughter, adding a decent chunk of Sadism. Last, but not least, in a CrapsackWorld full of corrupted heroes and FantasticRacism, the Overlord is definitely a Lesser Evil… of sorts. |
| 221 | * Kane of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' (MagnificentBastard that he is) uses pretty much all the forms of Loyalty to control the Brotherhood. Many of his followers have been cast out (Acceptance) by, or feel they have been ruined (Revenge) by, the [=GDI=], though in most cases the Forgotten take to neither side of the fight. He has helped many in the yellow and red zones (Acceptance, Kindness), the Brotherhood loves propaganda and similar media tactics (Indoctrination), and finally he is a charismatic (Respect) leader... but the whole thing tends to collapse whenever he disappears. |
| 222 | * [[AmoralAfrikaner Hoyt Volker]] in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' rules with Fear, as he tells Jason Brody. We're first introduced to him via a recording of him threatening to behead his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Vaas Montenegro and put his head on Hoyt's car antenna if he doesn't find and kill Jason soon, and later on, when Jason infiltrates his privateers, he sees Hoyt burning a man alive for breaking the company rules (presumably by stealing from Hoyt). The above recording with Vaas is most notable, because Vaas is pretty AxCrazy himself, so it speaks volumes of Hoyt's reputation if he can intimidate the pirate into speaking to him with such humility and nervousness. |
| 223 | * The ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' rules primarily with Money and Fear, and one of the eventual Doomsday weapons makes them rule the world through MindControl. |
| 224 | * ''VideoGame/LostJudgment'': Through the use of the footage of them driving Mitsuru to suicide, Jin is able to wrangle his former students into being his lackeys. He also records the footage of the deeds they've done in his name as further blackmail material. The one reprieve he gives them is an unspoken agreement that they don't handle the actual murder. |
| 225 | * The Administrator from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' starts out using Money, but felt she had to step it up to Revenge or Fear: Inciting conflict amongst former friends could only distract the RED and BLU Teams from thinking about who was calling the shots for so long. Luckily for Helen, in this universe, EvenEvilHasLovedOnes, and The Administrator's threats to the people and things most precious to the Teams are enough to let them know what's in store if they ever make a move against her[[note]]This is very nearly deconstructed; she never had to use anything but Money because the mercs [[WarForFunAndProfit simply didn't care]]. It's only after she starts trying to threaten them that the mercs even begin to show signs of unhappiness[[/note]]. And then Saxton Hale through Money and Sadism: After the Gravel Wars end, his promise of a steady paycheck and a steady stream of carnage is what compels the mercenaries to stay. |
| 226 | * Father Comstock in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' controls the population of Columbia through... just about anything, really. Fanatical loyalty is a particular favorite of his. He uses Divine Right to launch into Agenda, Indoctrination, Blind Obedience, the works. This gives him Authority. His huge cult following allows him to use Fear and (back to indoctrination) cultivates prejudices against all races, including the Irish. And his plans for Columbia after his death? He spends years labelling his daughter, kept away from the outside world, the Lamb, a sort of angel. He even claims she was born in less than a week. That's Divine Right and Birthright, right there. He's got it all figured out. |
| 227 | * ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Bowser is one of the few villains who controls his minions through Respect, with some Power and Authority thrown in. Best demonstrated in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', where his special attacks involve his minions and are obtained by freeing them because they '''want''' to work for him. In contrast, Fawful in the same game simply Mind Controls everyone into obedience, then presumably somehow altering their appearance to match his. |
| 228 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Ganon uses Authority and Power. Being the bearer of the Triforce of Power, he gets Divine Right to back him up in most incarnations, while also contributing to the Power aspect. When the [[AmazonBrigade Gerudo]] are among his servants, Birthright comes into play (the Gerudo being one man born every hundred years to be king, and Ganondorf being a Gerudo man). Best demonstrated in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' by contrasting him with Cia, who tries one scenario at Authority, decides that "independent thought is severely overrated in underlings", and goes for Mind Control (which rapidly starts breaking down [[VillainousBreakdown when she does]]); contrast with Ganondorf, who summons Zant and Ghirahim and has them bowing ''before he has turned to face them''. |
| 229 | * ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'': The Keeper attracts evil minions through Material Benefits, namely an ElaborateUndergroundBase that caters to their needs, as well as Money in the form of a paycheck and a chance at plunder. A dash of Fear, administered through {{Dope Slap}}s, helps boost productivity, but too much causes your minions to rebel. Even the {{Hero Antagonist}}s that you capture and [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil torture into joining your cause]] need to be treated reasonably once they do. |
| 230 | * ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'': Being an examination of 'how evil wins' and making you in turn an evil minion in a CrapsackWorld, you get to see pretty much every method on this page. Because this game weirdly runs off of both {{Machiavelli Was Wrong}} AND {{Hobbes Was Right}}, you also get to see how even normally foolproof methods like Incidental Importance and Being The Lesser can actually create more sorrow and harm than the cruder methods. A few examples stand out: |
| 231 | ** [[AFatherToHisMen Graven Ashe]] is a ruthless deconstruction of the 'positive' ways of running minions, such as with Respect and Being The Lesser Evil. His minions do genuinely love him and Ashe in turn (seemingly) loves them back. However, he has no interest in moderating their cruelty or racism even when deep in rebellious enemy territory, and ends up being a prime example of someone who deep down is {{Unfit For Greatness}}. This makes him a liability to his overlord, who doesn't want an army of increasingly incompetent [[DefeatMeansFriendship former traitors]] in their empire. |
| 232 | ** [[PlayerCharacter The Fatebinder]] is a minion of the empire's {{Noble Top Enforcer}} who on-paper has legal authority but is up against two megalomaniacs and their minions who have no real respect for them. To avoid facing a YouHaveFailedMe, the player character is forced to utilize increasingly tyrannical methods, all of which come straight from this page, to complete their assignments. The Fatebinder has a wide latitude on their methods and can either be worse than the EvilOverlord themselves or do their best in a CrapsackWorld to be a BenevolentBoss. Different aspects of this trope work better with different minions, colleagues, and bosses -- it is an incredibly bad idea to try to use Money or Fear on your boss Tunon, who embodies LawfulStupid, for example. And sometimes you may end up paying more of a price than you expected for using methods like Sadism or Acceptance. |
| 233 | * ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' has the [[AntiVillain kinda-villain]] King Dedede, a [[AdiposeRex slob of a King]] who overindulges on food, constantly focuses on beating Kirby, and spends his time almost always bumming around in his castle. That said, when push comes to shove, King Dedede [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething will get his hands dirty]]. Most importantly, ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' shows that King Dedede rules through power, respect, and kindness. [[spoiler:At one point, he risks dying to save a singular minion of his. He survives, and one of his minions mentions that he's most annoyed that Kirby saved more of his Waddle Dees than ''he'' did.]] |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[folder:WebAnimation]] |
| 237 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 238 | ** [[Characters/RWBYSalem Salem]], the BigBad, proves herself to be a flexible leader and uses different methods to coerce or guide those who follow her. |
| 239 | *** [[AxCrazy Tyrian Callows]] is fanatically devoted to her and desperately seeks her approval. Simply telling him he has disappointed her is enough to reduce him to sobs of despair when he fails a mission. |
| 240 | *** [[LadyOfBlackMagic Cinder Fall]] desires power above all else, so Salem serves as a mentor to her, granting her power and teaching her how to properly use it. |
| 241 | *** [[spoiler:[[MoleInCharge Professor Lionheart]]]] is cowed into service through fear. When he phrases something almost like an order, Salem has him strangled and casually reminds him of all the terrible things she could do to him. |
| 242 | *** [[NobleDemon Hazel Rainart]] wants justice for his sister's death; [[spoiler:when they first met, Hazel killed Salem several times before he was too tired to fight anymore. After proving her CompleteImmortality, Salem then convinced Hazel to redirect his desire for vengeance onto Ozpin, promising to create a new world order with no more huntsman academies to send children to fight in a hopeless war]]. |
| 243 | *** [[EvilGenius Arthur Watts]] serves because Salem appreciates his talents and lets him act against his enemies. He is the only person seen yet far who has survived speaking to her disrespectfully, and she trusts him with the most [[EvilGenius vital and delicate]] of her plans. Thus, a mixture of Respect, Kindness, and Agenda, tempered by actual trust. Arthur knows full well that Salem just kills or abandons anybody who disappoints her, so he strives to never do so. |
| 244 | ** [[Characters/RWBYCinderFall Cinder Fall]] herself uses Authority; she is very authoritarian and direct when interacting with her subordinates Emerald and Mercury. She expects her instructions to be followed to the letter and does not tolerate any disobedience, telling them to "don't think, obey". She is also secretive, keeping Roman on a strict need-to-know basis. When Emerald disagrees with Cinder recruiting Mercury to the team, Cinder slaps her in response, telling her to know her place. Later, when ambushing Amber, Cinder tells them to execute the attack exactly as planned. Cinder later reprimands both Emerald and Mercury for murdering Tukson [[PragmaticVillainy as it could've blown their cover]]. |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 248 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': |
| 249 | ** Ferretina controlled the lapinemoths by offering them [[spoiler:free insurance]]. And it worked. |
| 250 | ** Jägermonstern [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110316 vehemently insist]] that they serve Heterodynes "freely, out of luff" (at least for "[[BloodKnight fun]] vunz") and ''loyalty''. Though between themselves mentioned "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050620 the ancient contract]]" as a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050624 clear allusion]] to this service. Either way, becoming near-immortal {{Super Soldier}}s was their choice, and Jägers take their obligations seriously. |
| 251 | ** A strong dose of mutual Respect was part of it, as General Goomblast explains regarding Lucrezia (who married into the Heterodynes and was one of the few they did ''not'' follow willingly). |
| 252 | --->'''Goomblast:''' "[Lucrezia] treated effryvun like dey vos her ''servants''. Treated der Jaegers like leedle petz -- no -- like dey vos ''property''. Ve put op vit her ''only'' becawze ve iz ''[[BestServedCold patient]]''... und becawze Master Bill vos in ''[[DatingCatwoman luff]]''. '''''[[SuddenlyShouting But der Jaegers is not leedle petz!]]'''''" |
| 253 | ** [[BigBad The Other]] uses MindControl on her [[AndIMustScream revenants]]. |
| 254 | ** Klaus uses a mixed approach. The various noble houses mostly follow him because they're afraid (Fear) of what he could do (Power) if they ticked him off sufficiently, and because while most of them think they'd do a better job than he does, all but the most insane of them know what the other noble houses would do to them if they tried anything, because they'd do it to any of the others that tried it (Being the Lesser Evil). Most of his actual ''minions'' threw in with him because of Money, Power, or Loyalty (Klaus lets his Spark minions get away with quite a bit as long as they do it where he can keep an eye on them). |
| 255 | ** Many [[MadScientist sparks]] try to use Authority on their abominable creations. ''[[GenreBlind This never works]].'' |
| 256 | ** Martellus believes Klaus made a mistake by ''not'' invoking Authority by naming himself Emperor. He believes the noble houses would have gladly accepted Klaus as an Emperor. But Klaus refusing to take the title meant he wasn't playing the game of court politics, and ''that'' was an unforgivable insult to the nobles. |
| 257 | * ''Webcomic/{{Chitra}}'': When a 21st century girl gets [[{{isekai}} isekai'd]] into the body of a Priest-Princess in a failing [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval-esque]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]], she uses a variety of methods to re-establish her control over the region: |
| 258 | ** '''Authority''': Chitra ''is'' the chosen apostle of the God of Beauty, and the body she inhabits is that of a Priest-Princess whose family has served the God for generations. When she first asserts her authority, she argues that her divine birthright makes her fit to rule. |
| 259 | ** '''Fear''': When she first regains control of the armed forces and the kingdom, Chitra sets out to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem make an example of]] the criminals who have run rampant in the absence of a governing figure -- rapist and murderers are publicly executed, and the leaders of territories who rebelled or soldiers who defied her orders were beaten within an inch of their life. |
| 260 | ** '''Loyalty''': When she summons warriors and assistants through the [[LootBox God of Beauty's Exclusive Gacha System]] the summons are automatically loyal to Chitra, doing their utmost to help her succeed and gain power. The summoned helpers she's made {{Magically Binding Contract}}s with are even more loyal because their life is tied to hers -- if she dies, they too will die. Chitra also treats her subjects and summoned helpers better than their previous rulers/ masters did, engendering their loyalty the old-fashioned way. |
| 261 | ** '''Material Benefits''': Living in the God of Beauty's kingdom isn't such a bad deal -- the God of Beauty promotes a meritocratic society (albeit one based around physical appearances) where the virtuous faithful are rewarded with beauty and health, while criminals are given an ugly face to match their ugly hearts. Chitra herself works to improve the material wealth, health, and happiness of her subjects in order to make the kingdom an attractive place to live. |
| 262 | ** '''Mind Control''': Minor criminals, especially those in the armed forces, are spared execution specifically ''because'' Chitra is able to put them under a [[{{Geas}} slave curse]]. She orders them to return the money and property they've stolen. Failure to do so (or attempting to circumnavigate the slave curse) will result in their execution. |
| 263 | [[/folder]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 266 | * ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': |
| 267 | ** Dr Diabolik earns loyalty from his troops both by having a higher cause (the SMIILE project, meant to make Humanity a starfaring species) and through being a good boss who treats them fairly, pays well, takes their advice, and always does his best to get them out of legal trouble. |
| 268 | ** Dr. Venus uses a combination of Sex and Empowerment; she trawls science fiction conventions for lonely nerds and offers to make them buff 'studmuffins' who could then join her minions/harem. |
| 269 | ** Dr Macabre controls his Monster Squad through both threats of force and the promise of restoring their human forms at some later date. |
| 270 | ** Crucible's followers are all former victims of the disasters he creates; they see him as having uplifted them by showing them how precious their lives are, buying whole-heartedly into his SocialDarwinist agenda. |
| 271 | [[/folder]] |
| 272 | |
| 273 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 274 | * ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' : |
| 275 | ** [[Characters/DCAULexLuthor Lex Luthor]] leads mostly through the power of Money, though he does use Kindness to get Mercy to be his assistant and {{bodyguard|Babes}}. Of course, Lex being Lex, he leaves her to die one episode when Brainiac attacks.[[note]](Superman saves her, of course.)[[/note]] [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal She does not take it well.]] |
| 276 | ** Darkseid, as in the comic book example above, rules through a combination of Fear, Power, Sadism, Indoctrination, and Divine Right. One of the best examples comes in the last episode of the series, when Superman soundly beats Darkseid on Apokolips. The people of Apokolips flock to their defeated leader and immediately help him rise to his feet, much to Superman's surprise. |
| 277 | --->'''Darkseid:''' [[BadassBoast I am many things, Kal-El, but here...I am GOD.]] |
| 278 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' gives us an interesting study in comparisons with all the various anti-League groups: |
| 279 | ** Lex tries Money again on his Injustice Gang. It goes poorly, as members are disinterested in the (revenge-based) job at hand, start quarreling over whether their contributions entitle them to bigger shares, and [[spoiler:are undone when Batman makes one of them a better offer]]. |
| 280 | ** When Grodd forms his Secret Society, he specifically sets out to learn from Luthor's mistakes and chooses members motivated by Revenge or Sadism. After believing they've defeated the League, they start to lose cohesion enough that their ability to work together is gone when the League returns. |
| 281 | ** Finally, in Season 5, Grodd hits upon the ultimate racket: with the League now dozens of heroes strong and operating worldwide, the various villains of the world are terrified... so he offers them escape routes, networking opportunities, and a rather classy hideout. In exchange, ''they'' have to pay ''him'' (plus some odd favors once in a while). [[spoiler:It breaks down when they learn of his real endgame (turning the populace into gorillas) and are less than impressed. Then Luthor steps in and controls them through Fear for the rest of the season.]] |
| 282 | * ''[[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]]'': |
| 283 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]] of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has several: |
| 284 | *** She made a point that she uses fear to maintain loyalty in both her minions and her friends Mai and Ty Lee. [[spoiler:This eventually leads to Mai abandoning her to protect Zuko out of love, and Ty Lee following suit to protect Mai. The realization that her friends didn't actually trust her and ultimately abandoned her is one of the factors that lead to her ultimate VillainousBreakdown.]] |
| 285 | *** She's the daughter of the Fire Lord (and fighting his war with his armies), who in turn has an UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans philosophy he may or may not really believe himself, and the Fire Nation propaganda is indoctrinated into the citizens early on. |
| 286 | -->'''Azula''' to her EliteMooks: If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, I will snuff it out.\ |
| 287 | '''Azula''' to her mother: Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way.\ |
| 288 | '''Azula''' to her friend: No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more! |
| 289 | ** She explicitly points out how Birthright gives her the edge over [[TheChessmaster Long]] [[EvilVizier Feng]] in her BreakingSpeech to him: |
| 290 | -->'''Azula''': It’s because [[EliteMooks they]] haven’t made up their minds. They’re waiting to see how this is going to end. I can see your whole history in your eyes.[[SelfMadeMan You were born with nothing. So you had to struggle,]] [[TheChessmaster and connive,]] and claw your way to power, but true power, the divine right to rule, is something you’re born with. The fact is they don’t know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne and which one is going to be bowing down. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow But I know and you know.]] (sits on the throne) Well? |
| 291 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAmon Amon's]] control of the [[AntiMagicalFaction Equalists]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is fundamentally from Prejudice and Agenda against benders. He also builds up quite a bit of loyalty to himself personally through Respect and his claim that his [[BroughtDownToNormal bending removal]] came from Divine Right, and as the Equalists become more popular, he starts leaning for Popular Sovereignty. Of course, all this comes crashing down in an instant after his very public outing as [[YouAreWhatYouHate a waterbender]] who removes bending from others via [[BadPowersBadPeople bloodbending]]. |
| 292 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]] in the fourth season also relies on Agenda, with most of her followers genuinely believing in her hardcore Earth Kingdom (renamed Earth Empire) nationalism. Some shades of Fear as well, with the threat of internment in a prison camp should they betray her, but most of her army never even seem to consider that. |
| 293 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'' Sparks reveals his group of minions, and tries to recruit Marcos. |
| 294 | * ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': From the example of two FOWL eggmen in "Switching Faces", it seems FOWL itself leans on Sadism. Even its hippies are evil! |
| 295 | * [[GeniusBruiser Professor]] [[LargeHam Ratigan]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' appears to use Fear (his response to minions who upset him is to feed them to his cat), Sadism (his minions are genuinely enthustiastic about the next evil caper), and Money on his henchmen while using Kindness on his cat. |
| 296 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', a corrupt prince controls his army through mind control devices. When Ben shuts off the mind control, the soldiers all take a walk. |
| 297 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': [[BigBad Stavros Garkos]] uses mostly Authority and Money. |
| 298 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', the Mad Hatter used mind control on his minions, which gave him an advantage over Batman, who wouldn't hit people who weren't willingly causing trouble. Once they were free, however, poor Mad Hatter. |
| 299 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Dr. Drakken once used the Mad Hatter's method on Shego, ending in the same predicament. Normally, she seems to stick with him out of Sadism (like getting to fight [[ArchEnemy Kim]]), Money (in theory, at least), and a very small amount of Respect. It is also stated by WordOfGod she also stays with him because [[SignedUpForTheDental he offers dental]]. |
| 300 | * ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': Scarlemagne uses his {{Pheromones}} to mind-control an army of human slaves, but refuses to use them on his fellow mutant primates out of principle[[note]]aside from the time he made the alpha of the Goth Apes submit to him[[/note]], instead offering them Material benefits as nobles in his recreation royal court. His pheromones don't work on non-primate Mutes, so he controls the other tribes through a mixture of material rewards and the threat of force, as when he destroyed Ratland for harboring humans, [[spoiler: and at his coronation gave everyone in the stadium a choice between accepting him as emperor or being encased in molten gold.]] |
| 301 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugHawkMoth Hawk Moth]] uses Corruption, followed up by Power, Material Benefits, and if necessary Fear to create his Akumas. He reaches out to those who are angry, who want to right an injustice (whether genuine or not), disables all the inhibitions against DisproportionateRetribution, and then offers to give them the power they'll need to right whatever wrong they've focused on...for a small price, of course. If they get distracted later on, he keeps them in line with pain and the threat of revoking their powers. |
| 302 | * The first two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' have {{Establishing Character Moment}}s for both [[BigGood Optimus Primal]] and [[BigBad Megatron]], showing how they each hold command over their troops. Optimus makes it clear he'll never give an order he himself would never do and then proves it by putting his own life on the line, earning the respect and loyalty of not only his own troops but the defector Dinobot. Megatron on the other hand proves he leads his troops with power, cleverness, cunning, fear, and merciless pragmatism, being willing to blow his own troops away for not being loyal and cheating during a formal challenge for command to keep them in line. |
| 303 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', [[Characters/SamuraiJackAku Aku]] mostly has robotic drones in his armies, but he keeps his sapient minions in line through absurdly large payouts, indulging their most depraved behaviors, and in some cases, literal worship. |
| 304 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': [[Characters/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012TheShredder Shredder's]] minions are continually threaten if they fail at whatever mission he gives them, Stockman eventually developing genuine loyalty toward Shredder when his skills prove useful to the Foot. Shredder has Baxter Stockman create mutant worms that make anyone under their influence loyal to Shredder, testing them on the Mighty Mutanimals before using them on Karai after she rebels against him. |
| 305 | * Skeletor from ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' controls his minions through their combined hatred and fear of him, making it no secret that he is completely evil and that there is not an ounce of friendship, caring, camaraderie, or friendship between him and his followers: |
| 306 | --> '''Skeletor:''' I care for no one, and no one cares for me! You see? [Two Bad] hates me! But what is more important is he ''fears'' me! That's the way I like it! You can trust someone who's afraid of you! |
| 307 | * Most of the denizens of {{Hell}} in ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' are unrepentant {{Jerkass}}es who hold zero respect for any authority, even that of the Royal Family. While they feel free to berate the Princess of Hell Charlie, most will pay loyalty or recognition to [[{{Satan}} her father Lucifer]] out of fear of his power. |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
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