Cincinnatus

"Kahless said: 'Great men do not seek power, they have power thrust upon them.'"

— Worf, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Tacking into the Wind"

There is an emergency, threatening the entire kingdom. Even the king admits he is not capable of dealing with it, so he finds his wisest and most able knight and grants that knight total power over the kingdom. Why? Because the king knows this knight is a man of honor and also loves his family more than he loves power. He will use this power only when it is needed, and no longer. And he's right. Once the kingdom is saved, that knight abdicates his position and goes home to his family.

Often overlaps with Call to Agriculture, when the retired character decides to raise cabbages in manly obscurity.

The Trope Namer is Roman general Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who led Rome under the title of Dictator ("He who dictates") against an invasion. At the time, a dictator was simply a military leader given control over the country during war times but was expected to return power to the ordinary institutions of the Republic once the crisis was averted, as Cincinnatus had famously done. It was only centuries later with Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (or just Sulla for short), after the title of dictator had not been used for over a hundred years, that a Roman official attempted to abuse the dictatorship for his own gain, leading the word to pick up a decidedly negative connotation. Even Sulla, while abusing his dictatorial power in many ways and having arranged to not have a time limit on his dictatorship, still stepped down after a year. The first successful attempt to defy this tradition came without the actual (specific) title of dictator and resulted in the creation of The Roman Empire.

Some Evil Overlords gain their power by feigning this and crowning themselves emperor when the time is right. Some might even have arranged for the emergency to happen in the first place.

When played more cynically, it may overlap with Honor Before Reason. It can also overlap with Short-Lived Leadership and has heavy overlap with Gracefully Demoted.

Subtrope of Reluctant Ruler. Compare The Last DJ (the character has the same integrity but often far less power or freedom), Abdicate the Throne (giving up power born into), The Creon (who will do anything to avoid being in charge) and The Caligula (treating their people badly). Contrast Regent for Life, Unfit for Greatness. See also I Will Fight No More Forever. And yes, the US city of Cincinnati is named after the trope-naming general.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Rygart Arrow of Broken Blade can be considered this in a bizarre manner as when the Kingdom of Krisna is under impending invasion from the Athens Commonwealth, circumstances require Rygart to be summoned to the capital under King Hodr's orders.
• Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass, in a way. Soon after he conquered the entire world, he organized his own Suicide by Cop and gracefully left the scene. While he was on it, he also ensured that nobody would ever be able to do what he did, which is a good thing if you think about it. Of course, in this case, only a few people on Earth knew his real intentions, while the rest saw him as just another Diabolical Mastermind.
• Tylor in Irresponsible Captain Tylor is given full control of Earth's fleet at one point, but he doesn't even use it to fight the battle he's supposed to fight.
• Lord Gekkei from The Twelve Kingdoms leads the revolts against the Knight Templar King of Hou, but doesn't take over as temporary ruler until the kirin of Hou is reborn and then able to choose a new king. The noblemen have to insist a lot to convince him to start re-organizing the ravished lands as de facto ruler.
• In YuYu Hakusho, after Yuusuke inherits one-third of the Makai from his ancestor Raizen, the first thing he does is talk the other two world leaders into agreeing to a tournament-style election system to replace the warring monarchies. He participates because he's required to, does not win, and promptly goes home to his girlfriend.

Comic Books

• Superman. He's the single most powerful man on Earth, and in various alternate universes (and on Superman: The Animated Series) the writers have shown that he could take over the world... if he wanted to. However, Superman, being reared as an idealist by the Kents, believes in using his powers to help the little guy. On multiple occasions, Lex Luthor and Darkseid have both expressed a complete inability to understand this ideal, as Lex is egomaniacal and power-hungry, while Darkseid is the god of tyranny. Superman's decision to use his powers to help others and his refusal to seize power is the reason why the Justice League members pretty universally consider Clark to be someone they can all believe in, and the reason why most citizens of the DCU Earth consider Superman to be their world's greatest hero.
  Batman: It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god... and how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him.
  • In the novelization of Kingdom Come, "Cinncinatus" is the title of the chapter when Wonder Woman flies to the Fortress of Solitude and convinces Superman to come out of retirement.

Fan Works

• The Power Rangers in Space/Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series crossover Lost and Found sees the returned Canard basically speculate that he was a version of this for Wildwing, taking on the role of leader and assembling the strike team to attack Draganus so that Wildwing could become their true leader. Wildwing initially protests that Canard is the real team captain, but Canard counters that he was only in charge back on Puckworld due to his military experience, whereas Wildwing has assembled the other Ducks into a genuine family even when he doesn't have any actual command structure or authority to make them follow his orders but has still earned their respect.
• The Savior Fables see Emma Swan learn that, as the new adopted guardian of Harry Potter, she must also act as regent for the three noble houses that Harry is heir to; specifically, the Houses of Potter, Slytherin, and Peverell. Fortunately, she has the aid of the Scamander brothers and Goldstein sisters (still alive and young thanks to a gift of the Elixir of Life from the Flamels) to understand her full duties (as well as learning that she also has magic), and all parties are agreed that she will pass on her duties to Harry as he gets old enough to deal with them.
• Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi: Obi-Wan is thrust into the position by a senator who is exhausted with the now ten-year-long Clone Wars and finally says enough is enough and knows from their past experience with Obi-Wan that he is perfect for the role because he loathes the politics but is up to the duty. Hilarity Ensues as Obi-Wan struggles with a job he detests but lives up to.

Films — Animated

• In Cat City, Grabovsky, the Bond-Mouse was called back from retirement like Cincinnatus. The evil cat boss, spying on the meeting of mice leaders, heard the reference and thought that Cincinnatus was a new secret agent (in Hungarian, "Cincin" is the onomatopoeia for the sound mice make), so he sent his assistant, Safranek, to look him up. This led to Safranek being tortured, as he unwisely told his boss that Cincinnatus was a historical figure, which is common knowledge.

Films — Live-Action

• Discussed in The Dark Knight, where Harvey Dent explicitly compares Batman to the Roman elected dictators and instantly gets called out by Rachel, who says that such a system eventually led to powerful men appointing themselves dictators and eventually Julius Caesar and the death of anything resembling representative government in Rome. Later in the movie, Batman hands the power to tap into people's cell phones to Lucius Fox, knowing that his objections to the methodology would mean that it was ONLY used in a dire emergency. Sure enough, after the Joker is apprehended, Fox types his name into the computer that did the spying, just like Bruce told him to, and the whole thing self-destructs.
• Maximus in Gladiator. After long years of slogging through the north, conquering for Rome, he just wants to go home to his family and farm, even when he realizes he is being offered total power in Rome. That, Aurelius says, is why it has to be him to steward the Empire until it can be a Republic again.
• Despite being a violent idiot like pretty much everybody else, President Camacho from Idiocracy willingly steps aside and lets Joe "Not Sure" Bauers take over after he solves the famine crisis that plagued the nation.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Loki in Thor manages to be an evil version of this trope (though if anyone could make one of the most inherently noble tropes evil...). While at first it looks like he's aiming to be Regent for Life, his entire plan only fully formulates after he's been handed power on a plate — secretly create a crisis by making a deal with the enemies of Asgard, avert said crisis in a highly visible fashion by backstabbing said enemies and eliminating their entire planet, and then gracefully step down again with a new reputation as a devoted son and a hero of the realm when his father awakes. He gets a fall through a black hole and the subsequent destruction of his already fragile sanity in return for his trouble, leading to his return in The Avengers as a newly minted, glassy-eyed world conqueror.
  • Which would not be the last time the universe had an evil Cincinnatus. Thanos's goal in Avengers: Infinity War is to collect all six infinity stones and use them to eliminate half of all life. He claims that when he's done this he'll rest and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. He succeeds and keeps to his word. In Avengers: Endgame, he's shown to have retired on a Paradise Planet and has destroyed the infinity stones. The Avengers are shocked he isn't out trying to rebuild his forces or conquer more worlds. Though the fact that using the stones left him crippled to the point of no longer being able to fight probably also played a role in his decision.
• Star Wars:
  • This is part of Senator Palpatine's plan to ascend to full-on Evil Overlord status. By manufacturing a conflict around Naboo and stymieing Chancellor Valorum's ability to do anything about it, he is able to push Queen Amidala into the no-confidence vote that put him, as the most capable emergency ruler, into the top spot. Around this time (it's unclear whether it is before or after the Naboo blockade) he arranges for the creation of a Grand Army and simultaneously uses the fallout from the failed blockade to stir Separatist agendas. Pushing both of these together results in the Clone Wars, a galactic incident that requires continued stable and capable leadership. Having upheld this trope to the Senate, emergency powers are granted, until eventually he is able to wipe out the one threat to his rule, the Jedi Order. Then comes The Empire, and STILL he is treated as this trope!
  • Meanwhile, the Jedi while ruling their own, tend to act as advisors rather than rule themselves. When they start to grow wary of Palpatine, Ki-Adi-Mundi suggests removing him from office. Mace points out that the Jedi would have to take control of the Republic to ensure peace. Yoda is clearly not happy about the situation. In Legends, they had to do this when a previous Chancellor grew too corrupt. They did eventually return power to the people. The Jedi were again forced to remove the leader of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances when its leader Daala turned into a full-blown tyrant, returning power to the civilian government once the immediate crisis had abated.

Literature

• The title character in the Belisarius Series, who comments several times that all he ever really wanted to be was a blacksmith.
• Alusius, the main character of the first trilogy of the Corean Chronicles. Despite all of his martial skill, both as a soldier in his own right and as a commander of soldiers, all he really wants to do is serve out his tour of duty, go home, and raise sheep. What's more, the people who are trying to kill him in the second book know this and actually understand it. They figure that if he fails to complete the insanely dangerous assignment they send him on, he'll die, and they'll be rid of him. If he succeeds, he resolves a serious problem they had, after which they can give him a medal and let him go back to his backwater farm and raise sheep, at which point he'll be too far away to interfere with their plans.
• The Dresden Files:
  • The post of Blackstaff. The Blackstaff doesn't command the council, but he is immune to all its laws. Those laws mostly forbid using highly-addictive dark magic. The wizard assigned the post is entrusted to use powers the Council denies itself under all other circumstances, and to stop using them when the need is over, even though stopping means mentally wrestling with major supernatural evils. The blackstaff isn't just a title, incidentally: The post seems to be bound to an actual staff (which is white, and gradually turns black as the user uses dark magic). Whether the staff actually absorbs the bad mental impulses or just serves as a yardstick for 'how dark can you get right now and still bounce back' isn't revealed.
  • The Knights of the Cross can be this trope. The Knights of the Cross wield three Holy Swords whose hilts each contain one of the nails used to crucify Jesus Christ.^note Respectively each of the swords represents one of the following Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love. Each Sword is considered like a Supernatural Nuke on the battlefield against the forces of darkness. Being a Knight is, as they say, a Calling. However, it isn't a lifetime commitment with retirement only by a wooden box. The Knight can retire at any time. According to their long-lived nemesis, most Knights in human history are men or women who picked up a Sword for one mission and then let it be assigned to someone else afterward. The Knight was simply in the Right Place, at the Right Time to make a difference.^note According to the Author, at one point in history George Washington once wielded the Sword of Hope for a time during the Seven Years War and then set it down.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy: In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox notes that the President of the Galactic Empire election apparently involved scanning his brains for any actual desire to hold the position — or, at least, any desire to take it seriously — and if found, would have dropped him on the curb with only the clothes on his back and two stumps where his heads used to be. The purpose of the Galactic President is to distract people from the question of who actually runs the Galaxy, since obviously, anyone who wants to shouldn't be allowed to. It turns out to be the Man in the Shack, who is unlikely to go mad with power, since he doesn't entirely believe the Galaxy exists.
• In the Tom Clancy books, Jack Ryan is appointed Vice President, and soon after becomes President after Durling and most of the Congress are assassinated. He served out the remainder of Durling's term ^note who, in turn, was serving out Fowler's, after he resigned between Debt of Honor and Executive Orders and was then reelected to a full term of his own. Halfway through his term, though, he resigned. Both to allow his best friend Robby Jackson to become the nation's first black President, and because he's accomplished all he wanted to do in office and wants to retire. After Jackson's own assassination, Ryan is approached about running again but he declines, both for the same reasons that he left office in the first place and because he's been honestly heartbroken at his best friend's death and can't bring himself to go back to the position that was indirectly responsible. In Locked On, he runs again for President, disgusted with the way Ed Kealty had been running the country. And ultimately wins by a narrow margin, in spite of some Dirty Pool by his opponent.
• These people are called Ubars on Gor. Because of the extreme Gorean devotion to their honor codes, Ubars almost always step down and those who fail to do so are usually killed by the army. With one exception: Marlenus of Ar, who was loved by his army and people and remained Ubar perpetually.
• Dumbledore in Harry Potter. It is stated that Dumbledore was offered the post of Minister for Magic multiple times but refused it, preferring to remain the headmaster at Hogwarts. Only in the final book is it fully understood why: in his youth, Dumbledore was tempted into joining Gellert Grindelwald's quest to take over the world and find the Deathly Hallows. Afterward, Dumbledore realised that he could not be trusted with power.
• In the Honor Harrington novels, the Worthy Opponent Admiral Theisman overthrows the tyrannical government and kills the dictator as soon as he gets a chance, effectively giving himself absolute power. The admiral then ensures that elections are held and eventually joins the new government as Secretary of War. He's also Chief of Naval Operations. He's noble, not an idiot. Being both the civilian and military head of the Navy means he can make sure there isn't another coup. At the same time, the new president's political opponents know of Theisman's preference for the rule of law and know that he would never act against them in an illegal manner.
• In The Lost Fleet Captain Geary is promoted all the way to Fleet Admiral, a rank that existed but had never actually been held by a person, he accepts only on the condition he be allowed to be demoted back to captain after the mission he is given. Although he didn't object too strenuously when he got promoted back to regular Admiral soon afterwards, because he got a bit of Loophole Abuse of his own done in the brief interval when himself and his Love Interest were of equal rank and not in the same command structure...
• Monk: The novel Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu sees Monk temporarily reinstated to run the San Francisco Police Department's homicide division during a police strike, with three other eccentric or hotheaded detectives who've been kicked off the force (all of whom have handlers of their own) to be his squad. The squad continues operating even after a police officer is killed, which prompts the striking cops to return to duty to catch the killer. Once the cop's killer is caught, the police union use this as a bargaining chip with City Hall to get their demands, and the strike ends, upon which Monk's unit is disbanded. Monk reluctantly concedes while Natalie makes the acquaintance of the other detectives' minders.
• George Powhatan in David Brin's The Postman. After defending his own territory from the violent, survivalist Holnists, all he wants to do is live as a country squire, growing his own crops and making his own beer. Later, protagonist Gordon thinks he pities anyone who would try to make Powhatan a king.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Ned Stark's ancestor, Lord Cregan Stark, who was the Hand for a few days more than a century before the series began, was an example. At the end of the Targaryen civil war known as "The Dance of the Dragons" Cregan arrived in King's Landing just after Aegon II had been poisoned, meaning the throne passed to their nephew Aegon III, son of the claimant Cregan had been supporting. Cregan was named Hand by Aegon III and responded by punishing those responsible for Aegon II's death, feeling a King's murder must be punished even if it was a tyrant he was fighting against. Cregan's actions enabled a relatively stable reign for Aegon III, though the day after finishing the trials Cregan resigned the Handship and returned to the North, having been granted many rewards, and in exchange for pardoning Lord Corlys Velaryon, he married Alysanne Blackwood.
• In Michael Flynn's Spiral Arm novel On the Razor's Edge, two characters argue about giving up power. One cites Cincinnatus, George Washington, and two fictional future characters, and then adds that others might be unable because they had done it.
• Star Wars: In the new canon continuity, the New Republic granted to Mon Mothma the same emergency powers that Palpatine had claimed as Chancellor of the Galactic Republic before transforming it into the Galactic Empire. She makes it clear she has no intention of retaining those powers and once the war is over taking the Republic off a wartime footing by among other things drastically reducing the size of the military.
• In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series, Aral Vorkosigan was appointed regent for the child emperor, and a lot of people expected him to appoint himself emperor at some point. Instead, he ceded power to the emperor when he came of age and even donated a small fortune out of his own pocket to charity, so he'd leave the position of regent with the same level as wealth as he had when he was appointed. He did subsequently become Prime Minister rather than just going home, but not to keep power, only in order to have something to do (because retirement and Aral Vorkosigan Do Not Mix).
• Invoked Trope in War and Peace, in that the Russian emperor Alexander did not want Kutuzov to become Field Marshal during Napoleon's invasion, and many aristocrats in his court maneuvered behind Kutuzov's back to have him ousted after the danger was past. Kutuzov just liked to read novels though.
• In The Warlord Chronicles, rather than being a King, Arthur is a warlord sworn to safeguard the realm and the throne until his nephew Mordred comes of age and becomes King. Arthur is just fine with this since he just wants to live a normal life and is happy to step aside. The series takes a dark route with this. Although most of the world's misery is caused by the overly ambitious types like Cerdic, Sansum, Lancelot, and multiple other kings and princes, the fact that Arthur never takes the throne for himself (even after seeing how Ax-Crazy Mordred is) undoes all of his efforts.

Live-Action TV

• In Andromeda, Dylan finally manages to re-create the Commonwealth (although much smaller than the original one, which spanned three galaxies). The representatives of the various member worlds immediately try to get him to run for a Triumvir position (which wouldn't leave him as a sole ruler, but, still, his popularity is at an all-time high). Dylan refuses, saying he never wanted to be anything more than a High Guardsman. He later ends up regretting his decision, when the new leaders start making stupid decisions, and other characters point out several times that he had his chance to make sure things would go right this time and gave it up. Even earlier, when he finds a space station full of Nova bombs, capable of making stars explode, Tyr points out that Dylan could have his Commonwealth back... today. Dylan immediately rejects the idea, pointing out it would be nothing more than a dictatorship held in check only through fear.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor ran away from the position of President of Gallifrey at least twice. Of course, the life to which he was returning wasn't exactly peaceful, but he preferred Walking the Earth... er, universe. Mostly Earth.
  • In "Death in Heaven", it's revealed that in the event of a worldwide invasion, one person may be elected as President of Earth by the UN and all the world's armed forces. Three guess who all the nations choose, and the first two don't count. Obviously, the Doctor doesn't like being President of Earth any more than he liked being President of Gallifrey, and wants to get rid of the responsibility ASAP. However, he'll still take advantage of the position in order to get Obstructive Bureaucrats to do what he wants... and to ride the Cool Plane.
  • In a non-political example, the Doctor's status as a time-traveller and occasional Chessmaster means that he could easily get the timeline to do what he wants, and manipulate people and even planets long-term. However, he firmly believes that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility and his companions provide helpful Morality Chains to stop him from believing that A God Am I. On the very rare occasions that he slips up... well, it's really not good.
• Game of Thrones: When Jon Arryn dies, Robert seeks out Ned and asks him to be his new Hand of the King, thinking he is best suited to rule Westeros, despite Ned having no wish to take the job. Also, this was Ned's role during the rebellion. Basically, he won the rebellion for Robert, but never took advantage of this in any form and as soon as Robert sat on the throne, he missed the early stages of Robert's reign and went straight to Winterfell, bringing his sister's remains and his illegitimate son — baby Jon Snow — home with him. Ned never left the North since that, save for the Greyjoy rebellion. Arguably, his hurry of coming back to the North and reluctance to leave it may have something to do with hiding and raising Jon, who is actually Ned's nephew and the son of Ned's sister Lyanna Stark with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned spends the rest of his life protecting Jon from Robert Baratheon, claiming Jon as his own son and raising him as his own child alongside his children with Catelyn.
• House of the Dragon: King Viserys has previously accused his brother Daemon of coveting his crown. Now, Daemon has won himself a kingdom in the Stepstones. If Daemon really wanted to be a king, this is his opportunity. Instead he abdicates. He doesn't actually want to be a king—he wants to hang out at court, cause mischief, and bang Rhaenyra.
  Viserys: Who holds the Stepstones?
  Daemon: The tides, the crabs, and 2,000 dead Triarchy corsairs, staked to the sand to warn those who might follow.
• Mark Anthony promised to follow the example of Cincinnatus when his term as Consul ended in Rome while negotiating with Caesar's killers to preserve all their titles (and legitimizing Ceasar's will as not that of a tyrant). Unsurprisingly he never planned or had to abide by it after a certain famous speech at Caesar's funeral changed the political landscape to his favour.
• The page quote comes from Worf in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Tacking into the Wind". After killing Chancellor Gowron (who had been misusing his power and throwing away the war effort for his own political gain) in a Duel to the Death, Worf becomes Chancellor through right of combat. As the other Klingons in the room start to hail Worf as the new Chancellor, Worf stops them and immediately abdicates power to General Martok, who he sees as the best military leader.
• In the season 4 finale of The West Wing, Zoey, President Bartlet's youngest daughter, is kidnapped. In response, the President acknowledges that he has to step down for the good of the nation. However, they've just lost their Vice President to a sex scandal, so they have to hand over power to House Speaker Glenallen Walken, a die-hard political opponent. And it's held true to form, as Glenallen and his staff do absolutely nothing non-essential with their power, basically leading the country long enough to find Zoey and then giving it back. And of course, he was rewarded for his patriotism by losing his job as Speaker, too, since he had to resign before he became President.

Roleplay

• In The Gamer's Alliance, when Gerard comes of age, his advisor Leon willingly abdicates the throne of Maar Sul to him. However, some people, most notably Geraden, see Leon as a usurper who only abdicated the throne in order to control the throne from behind the scenes.

Theatre

• George Washington is a principal character in Hamilton. The song "One Last Time" centers around his decision to not seek a third term of office: he would beat any other candidate easily, so stepping down allowed the process to go forward fairly and demonstrate that the nation was strong enough to survive without him personally leading it. The song closes with lines from Washington's actual Farewell Address.

Video Games

• Assassin's Creed III: As in real life, George Washington declares his intent to retire to obscurity after America gains its independence. Connor, whose opinion of the man has taken a severe hit, sees this as a form of cowardice.
• Battle for Wesnoth: At the epilogue of Legend of Wesmere, Kalenz is unanimously chosen to be the High Lord of the Elves since the Elven Council were killed by Landar. After preparing the elves for any potential war against the orcs, Kalenz quickly retires once he feels his work is done.
• Brütal Legend: After leading the Ironheade rebellion to victory and defeating the tyrant Doviculus in single combat, Eddie Riggs lets Lita, sister of the rebellion's late leader Lars, take the laurels for it and discretely slips away from the victory party, content to Walk the Earth.
• Dynasty Warriors:
  • Dynasty Warriors 6 portrays the Wei leader Cao Cao this way in his, Dian Wei's, and Xiahou Dun's endings. Feeling that the newly-unified Chinese nation did not need a bloodstained conqueror as its leader, Cao Cao abdicated to go off on a journey, leaving administration and governance of the land to specifically-trusted advisors.
  • Koei seem to like this trope, in fact; before that, they pulled something similar in the spin-off series Samurai Warriors, in the PSP port of the first game to be precise, where at the end of Oda Nobunaga's 'good' storyline, he vanishes without a trace along with his wife, leaving instructions that his top generals are to divide the land up equally between them (and that his by-then-former manservant was to kill them if they ever came to blows); in his monologue to his wife afterwards where he explains his reasoning, he explicitly states that "the people don't need a king; what they need are options".
• Fire Emblem:
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has Ike. All of the forces gathered would only follow him because of his straightforward, incorruptible, noble nature, so he reluctantly accepts the title of Lord. As soon as King Ashnard is defeated, he gives up the title and goes back to being the leader of his humble mercenary company.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, some of Byleth's paired endings on the Crimson Flower route see them retire from their position as Adrestia's toughest general to a simpler life after the conflict ends.
• The quarian ship Captains and fleet Admiralty in the Mass Effect franchise exist to be this. The Migrant Fleet technically exists under a state of emergency martial law (as it has been for centuries) but in practice, most decisions are handled by an elected civilian council, both on the level of individual ships and on the level of entire sectors of the fleet in a federal-type government known as the Conclave. However, the Admiralty can invoke a deliberate override of anything the Conclave chooses as an exercise of emergency powers but are required to resign from their positions immediately after the emergency has passed, or face arrest and prosecution if they refuse to do so. This helps keep the otherwise unrestricted exercise of power in check. So far, the Admiralty override has only been invoked four times in the three centuries of the fleet's existence.
• The Galactic Custodian from Stellaris, elected to protect all life in the galaxy from a class X-3 Apocalypse How, is granted great but temporary powers in the Galactic Community. Such a custodian can attempt to hold onto the great powers granted to them for extended periods of time, attempt to reform the Galactic Community into a Galactic Imperium, peacefully turn in their title at the end of their term... Or vote to end their term early if the Apocalypse How is defeated before the end of their mandate. Doing this even grants the player the Modern Cincinnatus Achievement.
• Suikoden:
  • Suikoden and II are both examples of this. In the first, the Hero leads a popular uprising to overthrow The Empire, and after it succeeds, he's offered the position of President of the newly formed Republic. In the sequel, you can find him in a small border town... fishing. One of his lieutenants has taken the role of President of Toran. Hero 2 potentially follows his example: I believe one of the possible endings actually has him taking up the mantle of the reformed Jowston Alliance, but the Best Ending has him turn away from the power, instead leaving power to his strategist and heading off to go Walking the Earth with his sister and best friend.
  • In Suikoden IV, the ruler of Obel, Lino En Kuldes, gives your hero a seal proving his authority and willingly serves under your command. This gets thrown in his face during the events at Na-Nal, where their chief mocks Lino and flat-out states he has no power anymore. However, he doesn't take back the seal until you're ready to liberate Obel, at which point he breaks out the kingly robes and gives the enemy fleet his 'I'm Back, Bitches' speech.
  • Suikoden Tactics/Rhapsodia, however, has Lino indicating that he plans to name Hero 4 as his permanent successor. Neither of them realizes that the hero is actually Lino's son, who was presumed to have died at sea as a young child, and thus was always supposed to be his successor.
  • Interestingly enough, in Suikoden V, it's the other way around. The 'Bad' ending has you leaving the kingdom you just helped save, while the Best Ending has you staying there to take up the mantle of Supreme General of the Armies, to protect the kingdom from any future dangers. The queen was also a 10-year old girl who had no intentions of getting married any time soon, especially after she was forcibly married to the enemy general that pretty much controlled everything himself, effectively making her a ruler in name only.
    
    The practice of making the Queen's husband the commander of the Queen's Knights was abolished. From that point onward the position is to be filled on the basis of merit, and the Prince was established by this point as both a great military leader and absolutely loyal to Falena, both qualities that seem to be in short supply. Plus, it's implied in the last cutscene that Lyon serves either as co-leader or second-in-command of the Queen's Knights and that she and the Prince either are or will end up married.
• Transformers: War for Cybertron: Orion Pax takes command of the scattered Autobot forces following the apparent death of Zeta Prime, becoming Optimus Prime. One Forever War later, and in the finale of Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) he's finally able to turn over stewardship of Cybertron to an interim council (until proper elections can be held) and simply be Orion Pax again.
• World of Warcraft:
  • In the expansion Cataclysm, Thrall steps down as Warchief of the Horde in order to resume his shaman studies and figure out what's going with Azeroth's elementals, and he names Garrosh Hellscream in his place. This was a very controversial move, since Thrall is very well-liked, both by in-game politicians and by players, while Garrosh is the complete opposite.
  • And then, after Garrosh is deposed by combined efforts of the Alliance and the Horde (including Thrall, who realized that appointing Garrosh was not his brightest idea), Thrall's handpicked successor to Garrosh, Vol'jin, was reluctant to accept the title of Warchief, seeing himself as not worthy and only yielding when he saw all the Horde leaders acknowledge him.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3: After a effectively becoming the savior of their world, and his status as the Driver of the Aegis and the Master Driver, it's revealed that Rex, years after the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, chose to settle down in his quiet hometown of Fonsett Village in Leftheria with his wives Pyra, Mythra, and Nia, their children together along with Azurda and presumably Dromarch.

Webcomics

• The Mayor of the planet Jean in Freefall is a variation on the second half of this trope: while she was comfortable in her position of power, the situation the planet underwent was too fast and drastic for her to adapt; feeling this meant she was no longer capable of ably leading the planetary government, she made the decision to pass on her authority to her assistant.
• Girl Genius: Boris Myshkin-Dolokhov is put in command of the empire when the Baron is out of commission and Gil is missing and he hates it.

Western Animation

• Iroh of Avatar: The Last Airbender is a brilliant general, arguably the greatest firebender of his era, and a staunch leader in the fight against the Fire Nation and its lust for conquest. As brother of the tyrannical Ozai, he could fight Ozai and take the throne for himself. But he recognizes that fighting his brother will merely look like a familial power struggle, and leaves that task to the Avatar. And he has no desire to rule, letting his nephew take the throne instead, himself retiring to run a tea shop.
• In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Ben 10,000 (an alternate one, different from the one shown in the Original Series) mentions that he was President of Earth just long enough to defeat the third Vilgaxian Invasion. Gwen was more skilled at the day-to-day duties and is supposedly a shoo-in for a second term.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Gauntlet of Fire", Spike manages to successfully win the title of Dragon Lord, making him one of the most politically powerful characters in the show. He uses this ultimate authority to give all of one (relatively unimportant) order ^note that being to order a dragon who has often bullied him to go back home and give a hug to every dragon he meets on the way before abdicating and passing the title over to the previous Dragon Lord's daughter, who he had befriended. In fact, he initially showed up to the event to ask permission to leave because participation was mandatory, only deciding to stay upon realizing that a jerk could gain with the position and the power it confers if he didn't at least try to participate.
• Transformers: According to Word of God, in the backstory of Beast Wars, Autobot leader Optimus Prime became a space explorer after the war ended.
• W.I.T.C.H. had the "Heart of Earth" a.k.a. Lillian appoint three "Regents of Earth": Matt, Mr. Huggles, and Napoleon the cat.

Real Life

• Roman history:
  • Named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a legendary Roman general, who, sometime after he retired to his farm, was given total power in Rome to fight off an invasion. Cincinnatus's status as a dictator afforded him six months of total power over Rome by Roman law. His fame comes from the fact that he repulsed the invasion and conquered the invaders in sixteen days, then handed power right back to Rome even though he was legally entitled to continue ruling for the rest of his "term" as dictator. The city of Cincinnati in the USA's state of Ohio is partly named for him, and then there's the Society of the Cincinnati (see below). A year later, Cincinnatus was appointed dictator for a second time, due to an alleged plot by Spurius Maelius to seize power and name himself king. This term was even shorter, as Maelius refused to answer a summons from Cincinnatus to defend himself against the allegations, and was killed by Roman soldiers. Cincinnatus immediately resigned and went back to his farm. There was an added reason for why this became so remarkable: when Cincinnatus took up the dictatorship, the Roman Republic was only fifty years old and many in the Senate did not remember the revolt against Tarquin. That a Roman citizen could be invested with such power and then willingly give it up demonstrated the durability of the principles and revolutionary spirit of the Republic's founding.
    • Cincinnatus set a precedent in that all dictatores were expected to give back their power to the Senate as soon as they completed the task they had been appointed to fulfill. Most did just that, with the few exceptions being detailed below and having good reasons for it.
  • Exploited by Augustus, who made sure to abstain from all the flashy titles, while keeping the less impressive-sounding ones (and all the power that came with them). For most of the time, Augustus's strategy was to get the Roman Senate to grant him new titles such as tribunicia potestas since he was governor of lots of frontier provinces and therefore loads and loads of legions since most of the Roman Army was in the outer provinces. One of the ways he ensured his power was to use his legions to threaten the Senate to give him the governorship of even more provinces so that he'd get control of even more legions.
  • The Roman emperor Diocletian was born to a lower-class family and worked his way upward to the Imperium. He brought a fifty-year round of civil war to an end and stabilized the economy, giving the Roman Empire a new lease on life. He set up an elaborate system of co-emperors to prevent a return to civil war and, when the time came, voluntarily retired. When his political order started to collapse, he was begged to retake the throne. His response was, "If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed."
  • Lucius Cornelius Sulla (or Sylla), who became dictator after two civil wars and was, for many decades, reviled by Roman memory as the epitome of a tyrant. He ordered many political purges and made several reforms in order to re-establish the aristocratic supremacy in the republic, then retired from political life, and died two years later. Sulla inspired much of the bloody tension between the optimates and the populares (essentially, the right wing and the left wing) which led to lots of brutal civil wars, and he died peacefully in his bed on a pretty farm.
  • According to some historians, Julius Caesar actually would have fit this trope if he had lived. There are sources stating that he was in the process of returning full power to the senate when he was murdered. Though the documents that this theory is based on cannot be proven genuine or fake, so at least at this point it's anyone's guess whether it's true.
  • Scipio Africanus. While he never actually had absolute power, it is arguable that he could have—he was a Four-Star Badass who actually defeated Hannibal and ended the Second Punic War, thus gaining more prestige than any Roman had ever had. Instead of attempting to take power, he retired to his villa to get away from the Obstructive Bureaucrats of the Senate.
  • Fittingly, Scipio's main political opponent (and the guy who kept Hannibal at bay until Scipio defeated him) Fabius: he was bestowed the title of dictator and used it to launch a guerrilla campaign that, in spite of being unpopular, kept Hannibal's army in check and at one point came close to destroying it. When his term expired and the Senate refused to renew it, he dutifully left. And after Cannae, he resumed the campaign and set things up so that Hannibal would be unable to march on Rome while slowly losing his support. He was never reappointed dictator, but he didn't need it.
  • Pompey the Great: To deal with the deadly threat of piracy in the Mediterranean he was given powers arguably greater than those of a dictator — absolute control over the sea and inland to up to 50 miles — thus including Rome itself and most of their lands), ability to draw as much as he wanted for the treasury of Rome and its allies, 24 lieutenants, and an initial force of 500 ships, 120,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry with ability to raise more, for a period of three years. Plus, of course, impunity for anything he did during the job. In 89 days most pirates were dead or had surrendered and he forced Armenia (whose king Tigranes the Great had been supporting the pirates) into submitting to Rome, and then he dutifully remitted his powers to the Senate.
  • Lucius Verginius Rufus, despite being acclaimed emperor by his troops twice thanks to his exemplary tenure as governor and general, refused both times, ostensibly to prevent yet another costly Civil War or rebellion, instead opting to retire in his villa and engage in intellectual and artistic pursuits. When he died, his grave was inscribed (at his instructions, mind you): "Here lies Rufus, who after defeating Vindex, did not take power, but gave it to the fatherland".
• The Presidents of the United States:
  • George Washington, the first president, was unanimously elected to two four-year terms. Even though there was no law at the time limiting presidents to only two terms in office, he declined to run for election again (thereby establishing a custom that survived attempts at [non-consecutive] third terms by Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt and wasn't actually broken until Franklin D. Roosevelt). He could have served even longer, but is considered a modern Cincinnatus for not doing so. Cincinnati is partly named in his honor also. Washington pulled this off once prior when he resigned his commission in the army and went back to private life for years before becoming president. On hearing that Washington planned to surrender the power he had been given and return to being a private citizen, King George III said, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
  • President James K. Polk lived before the two-term limit was imposed, but he didn't run for a second term in 1848, saying that there was no need as he'd already accomplished everything he wanted to in his first term (so much the better; he died three months after leaving office). Rutherford B. Hayes also declined to run for a second term in 1880, keeping a promise he'd made shortly after being elected in highly suspicious circumstances (he won by one electoral vote, with three states' electoral vote allocations being heavily disputed, and had lost the popular vote^note That said, his opposition was alleged to have engaged in voter suppression (including from the likes of The Klan) and the federal Army had to ensure that e.g. African Americans could exercise their right to vote (and in many places the Army could not ensure this as their forces were spread too thin). Suffice it to say, this election left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Americans for decades to come — and it happened in the year of the centennial of independence). Calvin Coolidge also declined to run again in 1928 despite having served for just under six years as President (similarly to Johnson, except that Coolidge had no term limits). All other one-term presidents (besides those who died in their first term) ran for a second term and either lost the election or were passed over by their party.
  • The city of Cincinnati, Ohio is specifically named after the Order of the Cincinnati, a military veterans' organization of which George Washington was a founding member. Many critics of the organization consider it ironic that despite ostensibly honoring the retirement of officers into private pursuits, the organization itself amassed a great deal of power after the Revolution and became the closest thing the country had to a landed gentry.
  • Many books written about US Presidents stretching the line feature military personnel discussing the Oath of Cincinnatus and the implications of the military betraying their oaths to defend the Constitution, rather than the government.
  • Washington's officers after the revolution offered to start a coup d'état to destroy the incredibly inefficient and ineffective government of the Articles of Confederation and install him as King of America in the Newburgh Conspiracy, due mostly to not being paid for years in spite of Congressional promises to do so.^note Due to the terms of the Articles, the Federal government had very little power, and couldn't compel the State governments to chip in to pay the Continental Army. Washington's answer was to the effect of "Do you think I expelled George III so that I could become George I?"
    • George Washington popped up unannounced in the middle of the conspiracy. Sources say that it wasn't his speech that actually broke the mutiny, but his putting on reading glasses for the first time in public, with the words, "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country." It's said there wasn't a dry eye left in the room.
  • It's easy to forget due to the long line of historians with Southern sympathies smearing his presidency (which is currently reevaluated by historians as decent and even great in fields like race relations), but Ulysses S. Grant had a Popularity Polynomial going on during his own lifetime. He was immensely popular from emerging as a commander in The American Civil War to the end of his first term (his 1872 bid for reelection succeeded with only token opposition) but suffered greatly due to the economic downturn and increasingly-hard-to-ignore corruption of other executive branch members during his second term. Out of office, he regained the favor of many Americans and wanted to give a third term a try, but the Republican Party bigwigs flatly refused, citing the example of Washington. There being no meaningful democratic primaries, that was that.
• Oliver Cromwell pulled this during the English Civil War. He also refused to become king after leading the Parliamentarians to victory (and the execution of King Charles I) and being outright offered the crown. Much like (and likely more so than) Washington, it's uncertain how much of his borderline-saintly reputation is historical fact and how much was propaganda. He subverted this trope in his last years ruling the Commonwealth of England (the nominally republican regime that ruled the British Isles) as its "Lord Protector" (read: king in all but name) until his death. That being said, Cromwell seems to have been genuinely conflicted about this and hoped to establish a real republic; it's just that the various political factions in England were constantly at odds and basically could never agree on anything except that they liked Cromwell.
• Juan Carlos I of Spain. He was handpicked by the infamous dictator Francisco Franco to succeed him. During Franco's rule, he seemed to be a loyal supporter and destined to continue Franco's policies. All the insiders believed it would be business as usual after Franco was dead. Once Franco was in the ground and Juan had become King of Spain and received the absolute power of his predecessor, he voluntarily used that power to turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy with a Westminster-style Parliament, knowingly and willingly reducing himself to a figurehead in the process. And then, he personally browbeat into submission the officers who attempted a coup to return to the good old Franco days. He was almost universally popular throughout much of his reign, but he ultimately stepped down in 2014 mostly due to age, but also because some people were outraged that he had gone big-game hunting — pretty much the first "scandal" of his entire reign (unfortunately, other scandals have since popped up, such as adultery and tax evasion).
  • Franco can also be counted as this. While he ruled Spain as dictator after the war until his death, rather than continuing the dictatorship afterwards, he willingly gave the reins of power back to the monarchy; of course, he'd expected that his successor would continue his far-right authoritarian policies....
• When Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gómez chose his War Minister Eleazar López Contreras as his successor, people expected him to continue managing the country as his personal farm. Instead, he made a deep social reform, shortening the presidential term from seven years to five and served only three or four years of it, quitting and abandoning politics altogether.
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (lit. "Father of Turks") was an officer in the Turkish military who parlayed his victories against Allied forces (especially at Gallipoli) and during the course of Turkey's post-war border clashes with The Entente (chiefly France, but also Britain) and her somewhat ruthless no-holds-barred war with Greece (which involved cheery ethnic cleansing like that seen in Smyrna) he became Turkey's Generalissimo. After the wars were concluded he made the country semi-democratic, making himself the first Prime Minister and first Speaker of Parliament — but he gave up those titles in just a few years. Though he remained President (a ceremonial role) for the rest of his life, his role in politics was limited to a sort of 'oversight' function (to root out unconstitutional or corrupt politicians) that the Turkish Military continues to oversee to this day in the spirit of 'Kemalism'. The military has executed five coups to this end (1960, '71, '81,'97, and the failed 2016 coup), but they've always handed all power back to democratically-elected representatives within a few years and the idea of the military actually running the country would be unthinkable. Turkish voters very nearly made Atatürk the "Man of the Century" in a Time poll for the same title.
  • It's also interesting to note that the Cult of Personality around Atatürk didn't really manifest until after his death. He certainly wanted to be admired and for Turkey to follow his example, but there's no indication that he wanted the quasi-religious level of worship that Kemalism has turned into. On the other hand, when Atatürk made a law requiring every Turk to get a Western-style surname, he could not resist the temptation of taking "Atatürk" — father of all Turks. Turkish surnames are mostly immodest, though — "Özdemir" for example means "pure iron".
• When you think about it, a revealing definition of The Republic might simply be "A society organized for the purpose of reliably mass-producing enough Cincinnati."
• The Duke of Zhou is celebrated as a figure of "proper authority" in Chinese mythology as he served as regent for his nephew, Cheng Wang the King of Zhou, until Cheng Wang came of age and peacefully transferred authority to his nephew.
• In 1976 Nigerian Military Head of State Gen. Murtala Muhammed was killed in a failed coup attempt, and his deputy, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded him. Obasanjo continued his predecessor's plan to return power to the civilians and had a constitution drawn up. In 1979, he presided over general elections, and handed over the government to the winners, becoming a national hero and symbol of patriotism and duty. In 1999, after another military dictator had died in office and another transition was taking place, there was public clamor for "OBJ" to run for president (he had in fact been jailed by the previous regime, only being released upon Gen. Abacha's death). He won the vote, and reelection four years later, then it all got to his head and he subverted his own Cincinnatus status by trying to change the constitution to allow himself a third term. The senate checkmated him, and he left office as one of the most unpopular men in the country.
• General William T. Sherman was a successful Union general during the American Civil War. After Sherman took Atlanta, he became the Union's new darling and the sentiment led to an offer to promote him to the same rank as General Grant. He replied with, "I will accept no commission that would tend to create a rivalry with Grant. I want him to hold what he has earned and got. I have all the rank I want." After retiring from the military, he was approached about the possibility of seeking the presidency, to which he replied, "If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve." To this day, a categorical and absolute refusal to seek a certain office is referred to as a "Shermanesque statement."
• In 1940, faced with imminent defeat, the French Assembly voted to give full powers to Maréchal Philippe Pétain, the WWI hero. Yeah, that turned out well. The only thing they managed to accomplish was to permanently ruin the reputation of a once-great man who by the time of his appointment was already in the early stages of senility. This, combined with his advanced age and his previous service to his country is the only reason why they didn't hang him with the rest of the senior collaborators in the French government once the war was over.
• It didn't work out any better for Germany when they elected their own WWI hero, Paul von Hindenburg, to the then very powerful office of President. He did an all-right job but got drawn into party policies after the extremists blocked the parliament. He also wasn't particularly fond of participating in a democracy^note He was a monarchist but did not try to re-introduce the monarchy, as he felt bound by his oath on the constitution. and wanted to retire after his term was over.^note He was begged convinced to run for a second term by an array of all parties except Nazis and communists, i.e. from the socialists to the monarchists, in order to prevent a certain Adolf Hitler from being elected president. The former led to him being manipulated (by the even less competent Franz von Papen) into appointing Adolf Hitler as Chancellor^note He was made to believe that the setup of ministers would prevent Hitler from taking over., and the latter led to Hitler being able to seize total power by combining the offices of President and Chancellor into that of "Führer" when Hindenburg died.
• In the last days of World War II, when the last defenses of Berlin were collapsing, Adolf Hitler appointed Admiral Karl Dönitz as the next head of state, who was one of the few remaining high-ranking officers who still had his trust and who was still relatively safe in his faraway naval base in Northern Germany, where Allied troops had not arrived yet. When Joseph Goebbels killed himself a day after Hitler, Dönitz was effectively the only remainder of a German political leadership and took it on himself to form a new government. Accepting that the war was lost, he spent the following days withdrawing the remaining troops to the west and surrendering to the Americans and British, to be safe from the Soviets and to coordinate a fast and orderly surrender. However, he let the surrender be stalled to allow more refugees and dispersed units to escape the Red Army to territory under the control of the Western Allies. By his own claims, the night Hitler's right-hand Heinrich Himmler (who had tried to make a deal with the British on his own) visited him to talk about the future leadership of Germany was the only time he had a loaded gun in an open drawer of his desk, but fortunately Himmler accepted that he would not be the new leader and also would not get any position of power under Dönitz and gave up on his designs to become the head of postwar Germany without a fight.
• The Marquis de La Fayette — helped win the The American Revolution, first disarmed the nobles during the (first) French Revolution, then was imprisoned, denounced Napoleon, turned down becoming the governor of the Louisiana territory, helped the revolution of 1830, turned down the title of dictator to bring a more moderate king to the throne. Fittingly, he too was a founding member of Cincinnati, Useful Notes/{[Ohio}}.
• Napoléon Bonaparte was originally supposed to be this, but it was subverted — he led a coup against the horribly inefficient semi-democratic Directoire government in 1799, then stepped back a little to have a new constitution for France drawn up. According to the Constitution of the Year VII, which was approved in an overwhelming referendum, he became First Consul of France, essentially dictator. However, he was still fully expected to step down — and, at this point, perhaps even intended to, though his term was all of ten years, more than enough time. Two years later, however, another referendum and the Constitution of the Year X made Napoleon Consul for Life as recognition for restoring order to France and ending the Revolutionary Wars. Since he pretty much had all the power he could wish for at this point, he wasn't all too keen on becoming hereditary Emperor of the French in 1804.
• A Hunanese official, Zeng Guofan, raised a massive army from his home province that was completely loyal to him to crush the Taiping Rebellion. By the end of the war, the Qing Dynasty had almost no military force left, and had relied entirely on Zeng Guofan and the foreign-led Ever Victorious Army to fight the rebels; as the Qing were seen as outsiders by the Han Chinese, Zeng Guofan's brothers advised him to march north to Beijing, expel the Qing, and declare himself emperor. Horribly traumatized by the bloodiest civil war in history, Zeng Guofan declined, disbanded his army of 120,000, and for a century thereafter his fellow Han Chinese saw him as a Category Traitor, although both the Republican and communist governments later praised Guofan as a hero.
• Jerry Rawlings is known as "Ghana's last dictator" due to this trope. After ruling the country as a military dictator, he willingly democratized it. While he was elected president twice, he recognized the term limits imposed by the constitution and didn't run for a third time or try to take power again, not even when his rival John Kufuor beat his vice president and intended successor John Atta Mills. This election marked the first peaceful transfer of power from an incumbent government to the opposition in Ghanaian history.
• John Hunyadi was elected to serve as regent of Hungary in 1446 until Ladislau V came of age. Despite being both one of the wealthiest aristocrats and the most accomplished military commander of the country, with strong support from the nobility, he stepped down from the position in 1453.
• Tran Hung Dao, the Vietnamese general who defeated the Mongols twice, was this. He belonged to a branch of the royal family that hated the main one, and his father trained him specifically to overthrow the king when the time came. However, after becoming the supreme commander of the military and being in a prime position to contest the Throne, Hung Dao did nothing with his power and simply retired to his home province, where he later died.

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