Big Bad Duumvirate / Video Games

• In Assassin's Creed Origins, Flavius Metellus/The Lion and Lucius Septimius/The Jackal are the real puppetmasters pulling the strings for the Order of the Ancients by manipulating Cleopatra and Julius Caesar to unwittingly aid them in their quest for complete control of the known world.
• Baldur's Gate:
  • Jon Irenicus and his sister Bodhi form the duumvirate in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, although Irenicus is given much more spotlight, thanks to being a complex and somewhat sympathetic villain, while Bodhi is just your run-of-the-mill Chaotic Evil vampire.
  • Baldur's Gate III has the triumvirate referred to as "Chosen of the Absolute", later identified as General Ketheric Thorm, Orin the Red, and Lord Enver Gortash. All three were the Chosen ones of the evil gods known as the Dead Three, and The Man Behind the Man behind the game's Apocalypse Cult. However, they had constant infighting as Thorm and Orin sought to take control for themselves while Affably Evil Gortash struggled to get them to stick to the plan.
• Batman: Arkham City features a lot of Batman's Rogues Gallery, but the main plot is driven by Hugo Strange (running Arkham City and building up to 'Protocol Ten') and The Joker (who has poisoned both Batman and a large portion of Gotham). Ra's al Ghul turns out to be sponsoring Strange. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Joker hijacks the plot away from Strange early on, forcing Batman to focus on his plot while Strange's mysterious Protocol 10 plan gets ever closer and closer. Following the deaths of Strange and Ra's, the final confrontation is appropriately against the Joker.
• Batman: Arkham Origins has eight assassins hired by Black Mask to take out Batman. However, Bane is easily the most dangerous and prominent of the assassins, and winds up coming to blows with Black Mask who turns out to actually be the Joker. The two eventually team up to defeat Batman, forcing the Dark Knight to take them both down in the game's finale. Notably, Bane and Joker were also the leaders of the opposing factions in the game's multiplayer mode.
• Battle Realms: Zymeth and the Nightvol.
• BlazBlue features Yuuki Terumi, Relius Clover, and Hades: Izanami, the rulers of NOL who have been orchestrating every bad thing that's happened in the series' storyline from behind the scenes, for well over a hundred years, all in their mission to, essentially, kill God. Making matters worse is that the three of them are insanely brilliant, Relius being an amoral Evil Puppeteer (though a very calm and Wicked Cultured one), Terumi being a psychopathic tactician who delights in taunting people and ruining lives, and Izanami being the goddess of death. Oddly enough, the former two get along rather well with each other, and act as Red Oni, Blue Oni to one another. Then Chronophantasma subverts it as Izanami ultimately abandons them to their fates, but Double Subverted as they continue their work in secret, and Terumi becomes the Final Boss once Izanami is beaten.
• In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy, the titular villains of their respective universes team up to take over both worlds, but later had a falling out with Cortex handling things his own way with his niece Nina Cortex. Come the final showdown, they're back to working together again.
• In Crusader Kings 2 the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, or the Seljukes and the Fathimids fit this role, depending on if you are Muslim or Christian. They are all huge Empires (well, the Seljuks and Fathimids are technically Kingdoms) with a huge amount of troops. Also, the Fathimids are the heads of Shia Islam, while the Holy Roman Empire and the Seljukes will usually be the main force of a Crusade or a Sunni Jihad respectively. The Byzantine Empire can't join Crusades normally (due to being Orthodox), but are in such a good position that they can be a dangerous threat to Islam with constant holy wars.
  • If you play as Christian the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire will fill the role of the Big Good Duumvirate and same goes for the Seljukes and Fathimids if you are Muslim. Be aware though that Good Is Not Always Nice. They will try to subjugate you and make you a vassal if given the opportunity.
  • If you play neither a Muslim, nor a Christian character prepare for a Big Bad Ensemble.
• DC Universe Online has a Big Bad Triumvirate with Lex Luthor, The Joker, and Circe as the trio who are in control of the villain side.
• TK and Sullivan in Dead Rising 2.
• Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, the Three Prime Evils in the Diablo games. Diablo is the Big Bad in the first game and at least the Final Boss in the second, and Baal is the Big Bad in the expansion, while Mephisto is an intermediate boss in Diablo II, but for the plot as a whole they are equals. They seem to be loyal to each other too (well, they are brothers). The third installment makes it explicitly clear that the Prime Evils are willing to work together so long as it suits their individual agendas, but that Hell has never really posed a serious threat to Heaven before because the Prime Evils have never been able to resist the temptation to stab each other in the back a bit too soon.
• Double Dragon IV has Casey and Shannon, the Okada twin sisters.
• Fall from Heaven reverses the usual fantasy conventions: The good gods are individually powerful but tend not to get along well, while the evil ones are all trying to twist Creation together just to make a point to the original Creator. They even run their afterlives (hells) together as a well-oiled machine to create twisted daemons, unlike the good gods whose afterlives are all disconnected.
• Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly has main antagonist Sae and the Kusabi. While the Kusabi is more dangerous, because he has a One-Hit Kill, Sae is creepier and plays a more active role in the game. They are even fought as a Dual Boss.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy XI had the Ace Cardians in the Windurst mission line.
  • Final Fantasy XII had Venat and Vayne, who together wish to free Ivalice from Occuria's control. Venat is more like a Well-Intentioned Extremist while Vayne more appropriately fits the Big Bad role but they do work together. Venat and Dr. Cid might also qualify.
  • Final Fantasy XIII has Barthandelus and Orphan, who collaborate to bring about the destruction of Cocoon; however, the former of the two is given much more focus in the game itself, while the latter serves as the game's Final Boss. Actually a unique example because Barthandelus and Orphan essentially fuse for the final battle.
• Every Fire Emblem game in the Archanea canon (Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem, and their remakes) features Medeus and Gharnef in such a duumvirate — Gharnef specifically revives Medeus from his centuries-long death for this purpose, but it's implied he has plans which transcend Medeus and will (try to) dispose of him once he's done; for his part, since he cannot leave his castle without losing his power or risking death, Medeus relies on Gharnef to actually execute their plans for dominating Archanea.
• Commander Sith and Yomiel from Ghost Trick make a deal to wipe out all the people who know of Temsik. Each of them has a separate agenda, though, and it doesn't end good for one of them.
• Five Nights at Freddy's:
  • Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator has Springtrap and Scrap Baby.
  • Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery has Fazbear Entertainment and Springtrap.
• Grand Theft Auto:
  • Catalina and Salvatore Leone in Grand Theft Auto III.
  • Sonny Forelli and Lance Vance in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
  • Frank Tenpenny and Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
  • Jerry Martinez and The Mendez Brothers in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
  • Dimitri Rascalov and Jimmy Pegorino in Grand Theft Auto IV.
• Halo Infinite has Escharum and the Harbinger. Escharum is coordinating the Banished forces Chief battles across Zeta Halo, while the Harbinger is working with the Banished to free the Endless for her own ends.
• Hogwarts Legacy has Victor Rookwood and Ranrok, the former being a Dark Wizard crime lord specializing in poaching magical beasts and the later being a goblin terrorist that wants to Take Over the World. They work together in pursuit of ancient magic sources that act as an Amplifier Artifact, but have a fragile alliance due to Fantastic Racism.
• Horizon Forbidden West has two Big Bads in the form of Gerard Bieri and Tilda van der Meer. Both want to take GAIA and leave Earth at the hands of Nemesis, though it borders to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork due to them having very different, conflicting goals on leaving Earth to Nemesis. Gerard wants to steal it to remake Earth in his image, while Tilda wants to take Aloy and do the same thing with Gerard by forcing her to betray her own allies. However, it is clear that Tilda is the one who spearheaded this plan in the first place after Nemesis' terror in Sirius and Gerard is the one who led the Zeniths including Tilda to Earth to take the working GAIA and her runaway functions.
• Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 has the Criminals of the Free World who want to get rid of the CPU goddesses and spread piracy, while its sequel, Hyperdimension Neptunia V, has the Seven Sages, people who want to get rid of the CPU goddesses because they think that Gamindustri can move on its own without any CPUs to guide them. Of course, they're not exactly united in that regard.
• Jak and Daxter:
  • Gol and Maia Acheron of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
  • Toward the end of Daxter, Daxter and Tik run into an averted example involving Erol and Count Veger, who are in the middle of a discussion on why they shouldn't form this kind of team-up, citing Erol's experiments with Dark Eco, something Veger cannot tolerate. Consequently, this leads to them working independently from each other during the events of Jak 3.
• In Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the two Big Bads are a fallen Jedi named Desann and an Imperial officer named Galak Fyyar. Both appear to be working together, but privately have different goals. Specifically, Desann wants to use the power of the Valley of the Jedi to create an army of Force-sensitives with which to topple the New Republic and create an empire of his own. Fyyar has been heavily mining a rare mineral called cortosis capable of resisting lightsabers in order to be able to effectively counter Jedi and, when the time came, Desann and his Reborn soldiers, in order to restore the old Empire and rule it.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User has DIO like in the source material, but also adds Vins into the mix for plots involving the new protagonist. In the betrayal endings, it's you who forms the other half of the duumvirate instead, with Vins pulling an Enemy Mine and joining your former party.
• The Joy of Creation: Reborn: In Story Mode, Michael and Ignited Golden Freddy made a deal for The Ignited to be released into the real world in exchange for Michael being able to live as a human being by replacing Scott Cawthon himself in the real world. The Ignited attacking his other family members was not Michael's intention, forcing Michael to keep them safe from them by warning the others and instructing them on how to survive.
• Kameo: Elements of Power has King Thorn, the leader of the trolls, and Kalus, Kameo's sister turned jealous.
• Kingdom Hearts has Maleficent and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness as they work together to use the Heartless bring all worlds into darkness, but Ansem is the bigger threat and Maleficent was his Unwitting Pawn being used for his plans.
• The eponymous characters in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords are often called the Sith Triumvirate, although only Darth Sion and Nihulus ever work together as equals; the first third member was the Big Bad and Sion and Nihilus were her Co-Dragons and the replacement third member was never an official member of their organization. Cut content shows that Sion and Nihilus' relationship is actually a subversion, as during a deleted scene from the game that was eventually restored by modders, Darth Sion confronts Darth Nihilus aboard the latter's ship to boast about his success in "killing" the player character. Nihilus responds by forcing Sion to the ground effortlessly, and then letting him walk away humiliated; Nihilus didn't care about Sion, to the point where he considered the Lord of Pain so weak that he wasn't worth killing.
• Dr. Harlan Fontaine and Leland Monroe in L.A. Noire. While Monroe runs the Suburban Redevelopment Fund's syndicate, who is the one with the ambition of making money off the city, Fontaine the mastermind behind the plans as he is the one who masterminded Courtney Sheldon's drug deals which put him in conflict with Mickey Cohen, as well as Ira Hogeboom's arson crimes.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games: In the linked game, Koume and Kotake are the Big Bads, whose motive is to revive their surrogate son Ganon.
  • In Hyrule Warriors, Ganondorf manages to begin influencing and controlling Cia, causing her to behave very dangerously. As the story progresses, she clearly begins fighting against his influence while still actively trying to finish her villainous plan. What ends up happening is a small war, in which during one stage where you control Cia's forces, you must fight Ganondorf, and yet in another stage while playing as the Hylian Forces, you end up facing both Cia and Ganondorf, and have to complete objectives against and defeat both armies while they're actively trying to attack one another and you at the same time.
• Joker and Lex Luthor in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
• Lego Marvel Superheroes features a Big Bad Triumvirate between Loki, Doctor Doom, and Magneto as all three conspire to acquire the Cosmic Bricks and subjugate the world, bringing a Legion of Doom together to carry out their plan.
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has Bryce Fairchild and Masataka Ebina, with them working together and serving as the overarching antagonists for (respectively) Ichiban's adventures in Hawaii and Kiryu's adventures in Japan.
• Marvel vs. Capcom:
  • The team up of Doctor Doom and Albert Wesker in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. There's also a Sealed Evil in a Can that they accidentally released to count, that being Galactus. But if Wesker's ending is to be believed, that's part of the plan.
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has Ultron and Sigma. Both villains are working together due to their shared goals to Kill All Humans, and to that end they have combined to become Ultron-Sigma.
• Mega Man X:
  • While Sigma is front and center in Mega Man X5, to the point of directly confronting the heroes in the intro stage to get his Apocalypse How-scale Evil Plan rolling, he mentions right before the final battle that he had the help of "a new partner," someone who hates X just like he does and told Sigma of Zero's true nature (thus sparking his plot to draw it out via The Virus). Between this, everything about the first Zero Space stage ^note The stage itself is Quick Man's stage from Mega Man 2, One-Hit Kill lasers and all. Its boss, the Shadow Devil, is a Yellow Devil variant capable of morphing into the Wily Machine 6 for one of its attacks. A familiar "W" logo appears in the background during the battle, which is set to a dark, orchestral remix of the very first Fortress Boss theme., and Sigma's One-Winged Angel form — which was also provided by this unknown benefactor — being based on Gamma (the Final Boss of Mega Man 3), all signs pointed to this person being Dr. Wily despite the huge gap in time between series meaning he'd be a fossil by 21XX. Word of God would later confirm it was indeed Wily and that he even came back to life in the process, implicitly because of the Maverick Virus. However, as Wily created Zero and most likely created the original form of the Virus (which ended up corrupting Sigma in the first place), he's already the Greater-Scope Villain of the X games and thus might have been The Man Behind the Man to Sigma instead. This only becomes more confusing with the suggestion (particularly in the Japanese version) that Serges, one of the X-Hunters from X2 (who were remnants of the original Maverick uprising), is one of at least two robotic avatars for Dr. Wily^*the other being Isoc.
  • Mega Man X8 also might have used this trope. It's left ambiguous as to whether Sigma was the real mastermind behind Lumine, if it was the other way around, or if they were just like minds using each other to fulfill their goals (the former wanting to ensure that he and his ideals live on in the New Generation Reploids even if he were to finally die for good, and the latter wanting to purge old-gen Reploids to pave the way for the New Generation Reploids to take over). The fact that Lumine reveals Sigma's DNA data is in the Copy Chips possessed by all New Generation Reploids sans Axl yet later claims they are able to go Maverick "at will" muddies things further. Some say Sigma had his usual Hijacked by Ganon status reversed on him, others say Lumine is more of an Overlord Jr. in practice.
• Mr. Hopp's Playhouse 2 has the titular demonic Mr. Hopp, Mr. Stripes, and Ms. Bo.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are the eponymous duo of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and play this to a frightening hilt. Shang Tsung was a former sorceror of Shao Kahn's until the two seemingly murdered him, and Quan Chi was once the fallen god Shinnok's arch-sorceror until he was unexpectedly banished to the Netherrealm by Scorpion. The two plan to use each other's talents for soul manipulation and necromancy to revive the invincible army of the Dragon King. Both of their endings see one betray the other, however, and while against all odds they actually win in the next game, Shang Tsung still betrays Quan Chi and pays the price. And then said Dragon King himself re-emerges and they both seemingly die trying to take him down as a threat to their rule.
  • Ironically, the series' two biggest betrayers are at their best when working together, and they know it. Because of this, even across different timelines, the Deadly Alliance keeps forming. It starts as an impromptu team-up in Shao Kahn's tournament in Mortal Kombat 9 and shows up again working together to destabilize Queen Sindel's regime in Mortal Kombat 1, which is itself a pawn for a Titan Deadly Alliance aiming to destroy the New Era itself. So much so that Liu Kang drops everything to see the threat neutralized when he hears of it.
  • The proven effectiveness of the pair continues in Chapter 13 of Mortal Kombat 1 appropriately titled "Deadly Alliance". Shang Tsung and Quan Chi run roughshod over the minions of their Titan counterparts and completely halt the plan to invade the New Era.
• The Southern Urals region of the The New Order: Last Days of Europe has Oskar Dirlewanger and Trofim Lysenko in cases when they make an alliance against the militants of the Ural League and the free city of Orenburg. In spite of their mutual disdain for each other, they can find a use for cooperation because of their common interests, as Dirlewanger wants to pillage Orenburg for its numerous riches and Lysenko wants Dirlewanger to provide his laboratories in Magnitogorsk with captured residents of Orenburg for further use in human experimentation. Their alliance, due to Dirlewanger's numbers and Lysenko's technological advantage, presents a mortal danger for other states in the Urals.
• A Big Bad triumvirate is found in Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus. General Dripik of the Slig Barracks, Vice President Aslik of FeeCo Depot and Director Phleg of Necrum Mines and Bonewerkz, respectively. Until the previous game's Big Bad, Molluck, is revealed to have been their superior. That being said, Molluck is dead, and so the three Glukkons are having trouble trying to figure out what to do now that he's gone.
• The Eerie Voice and Malevolent Entity in Persona 4: Arena. The Eerie Voice turns out to be an Unwitting Pawn to the Malevolent Entity, though. Ultimax reveals the two to be Sho Minazuki and Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, respectively. Since Sho essentially has two personalities, this is more like a Triumvirate.
• Gates and Tokugawa from Policenauts.
• In Psychonauts, Dr. Loboto and Coach Oleander work together to conquer the world. The latter eventually undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, though, after Loboto falls out of the asylum.
• Pulp Adventures has Shiwan Khan and John Sunlight, whose plan is to conquer the world (Khan would receive the eastern half and Sunlight the western half).
• Radia Senki Reimeihen has Gadiss and Nova, two tyrants who conquered their homelands and united together to find and seize the power of Radia Tower.
• Captains Romulus Slag and Angstrom Darkwater in Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty.
• In Saya no Uta, this overlaps with Villain Protagonist, if Fuminori decides to stay with Saya; he decides to help her in her quest to assimilate humanity into her species.
• Shin Megami Tensei II, despite being known as the game where God is the Big Bad, did not actually start with YHVH as the main villain. Instead, the villains directly responsible for most of the game's problems until YHVH gets involved are the Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Uriel forming a Triumvirate.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has the Triumvirate of the Three Wise Men (who may or may not be the aforementioned Michael Raphael, and Uriel) directing the Law faction, and the Duumvirate of Lucifer and Mem Aleph helming Chaos.
• Soma Spirits: Form and Dissonance are the rulers of the World of Joy and the World of Sorrow respectively, and each schemes to destroy the other's world, making them the Big Bad Ensemble in the first four endings. In the Golden Ending, their proteges merge the two worlds, which disgusts Form and Dissonance because they believe the emotions of joy and sorrow shouldn't mix. The two reluctantly decide to team up in order to destroy the united world.
• While the Sonic the Hedgehog series has a central antagonist in the form of Dr. Eggman, many games will have him team up with another new villain:
  • In Sonic Adventure, Eggman awakens the watery god of destruction Chaos, and seeks out the Chaos Emeralds with the intention of using them to make Chaos reach his full power and use him as a weapon to destroy Station Square. Initially Eggman is dominant, but Chaos betrays Eggman and serves as the game's final boss.
  • In Sonic Adventure 2, Eggman discovers Shadow the Hedgehog, an ultimate life form created by his deceased grandfather, and the two forge an alliance to gather the Chaos Emeralds and use their power to fuel the Space Colony ARK and force the world's leaders to surrender to them. They have a third ally in the form of Rouge the Bat, the third member of the Dark story, but she is an undercover government agent with her own agenda.
  • Towards the end of Sonic Generations, Dr. Eggman meets his past self from Classic Sonic's time, and the two team up to control the Time Eater.
  • In Sonic Forces, Dr. Eggman's main ally is his new general, Infinite. While Infinite appears to be Eggman's Dragon, with Eggman as the dominant villain, Infinite is also the more active threat toward the heroes for most of the game.
• Outside of Venom and the Scorpion, all the villains in Spider-Man (2000) are working for Dr. Octopus and Carnage.
• Mr. Negative and Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man (PS4)
• Kombayn Nikoladze and rogue Chinese General Kong Feirong of the first Splinter Cell game. Like the Bourne Supremacy example, Nikoladze abandons Kong, causing him to attempt suicide by gun, though he is stopped by Fisher before doing so.
• Sarah Kerrigan and Arcturus Mengsk become this briefly in StarCraft: Brood War, until Kerrigan decides otherwise. In somewhat of a subversion, they are working with the good guys against a faction of space Nazis, and Mengsk wasn't given a choice if the alternative was cryogenic imprisonment. By the time they return to being villains, they're at each other's throats again, and Mengsk becomes the final main enemy of the Campaign.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario & Luigi: Dream Team has Bowser and Antasma, who team up to take over the island and world, as well as use the power of the Dream Stone for their own evil ends. Bowser ends up betraying Antasma.
  • Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has Bowser form one with himself from the Paper Mario universe. Though they don't get along very well (their first meeting results in a Big Ball of Violence), they ultimately decide that teaming up is a more productive idea.
• Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan: The main villains of the game are Kukulkan and Kinich Ahau. The former broke the Haab Calendar and scattered it about the temples in the Haab Pyramid, and the latter opposes Sydney at every turn by sicking other Mayan deities on him. Of course, we later find out that Kukulkan is nothing more than a pawn for Kinich Ahau, who wants to freeze time for all eternity to cover up what he did to Kukulkan's daughter.
• Tales of Xillia has Gaius and Muzét, a King and Great Spirit working together to save their world-by sacrificing another one. There’s also Maxwell, who’s will they carry out, but they betray him eventually.
• Team Fortress 2 had bungling idiot Redmond Mann and idiotic bungler Blutarch Mann as sort of co-villains of the game, since they owned RED and BLU respectively and were the ones throwing mercenaries at each other endlessly. It turns out that they were fighting each other to try and capture worthless pits for quarrying gravel, believing them to be valuable resources somewhat like coal mines.
• Tomb Raider: Legend has James Rutland and Amanda Evert working together as the main antagonists, and Tomb Raider: Underworld follows with Amanda and Natla, with Amanda initially being the main antagonist until Natla, who spends most of the game imprisoned by Amanda, takes over for the final stage, proving to be a larger threat. However, many would say Amanda is secondary to Natla here, as she was Natla's pawn the entire time, and some have called Rutland secondary to Amanda due to Amanda's closer connection to Lara and being the final boss, but both are equal on the chain of command in this case.
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has Gabriel Roman as main antagonist for most of the game, but at the end of the game is betrayed and killed by his second in command, Navarro, who knew more about El Dorado than Roman and had been planning on betraying him and selling it as a weapon all along. Navarro serves as the final boss.
• Warcraft: In the first game, Gul'dan and Medivh are this, both being responsible for the orc invasion. Also, ever since Sargeras only mostly kicked the bucket, his Co-Dragons Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden have been carrying on his crusade against life together. Until Archimonde bites it, that is, leaving Kil'Jaeden sole acting Big Bad.
  • At other points, Gul'dan and Cho'Gall. Until Cho'Gall becomes more interested in the end of the world than in the Legion and wanders off.
  • Another example is Onyxia and Nefarian from Classic. They are brother and sister Black Dragons, working to create the Twilight Dragonflight. They get along swimmingly, since of course they have the same goals for much the same reasons.
• Wild ARMs has one of the most horrific inducing examples in the second half. It's Mother and Ziekfried merged as one entity. The horror is that the merging happened because Mother ate Ziekfried.
• The Witch's House: Subverted. The Black Cat Demon ostensibly allows Ellen to believe they operate as equal partners, but in reality, his higher level of power and manipulation of her makes it clear she's The Heavy and his Dragon while he is The Man Behind the Man and true Big Bad.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2: The leaders of the Organization of Torna, Jin and Malos, serve as the duumvirate of the game, with them often assigning their subordinates, Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail, to cause havoc on individual Titans, or jumping into the fray themselves to take out the Aegis, Pyra/Mythra. Interestingly, despite attempting to reach the same goal of annihilating Alrest, Jin and Malos are complete polar opposites. Jin is a Tragic Villain set out on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge following the death of his Driver, Lora, whereas Malos is a Knight of Cerebus whose only purpose in life is to murder everybody in Alrest.
• Xenogears: Emperor Cain and General Kahran Ramsus rule over The Empire of Solaris. They are also competing with Shakhan, the Gazel Ministry, and Grahf for control of the empire, while Id seeks revenge on them all. Except Cain turns out to be trying to help the heroes, Ramsus betrays him, and all of them are revealed to be Unwitting Pawns. The real Duumvirate is Miang Hawwa, Kahran's supposed sidekick, and Krelian, the Mad Scientist true leader of Solaris; they in turn are working for Deus, the Greater-Scope Villain. Miang herself, or rather the Miang Factor personified as the Urobolous Snake, is the Post-Final Boss of the game. Defeating her means Deus cannot be activated and is utterly useless.

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