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In the half-dozen years since my arrival, I'd been temporarily seconded to units assigned, among other things, to assault fixed positions, clear out a space hulk, and run recon deep behind enemy lines. And every time I'd made it back alive, due in no small part to my natural talent for diving for cover and waiting for the noise to stop, the general staff had patted me on the head, given me another commendation, and tried to find an even more inventive way of getting me killed.
A character touted as a brave and mighty warrior, despite it being complete hogwash. The best this character can manage is to be the Unknown Rival, although the viewers are totally aware it's no contest. Sometimes this character is just duplicitous, but is allowed to claim the title to keep the Masquerade going for the greater good. Sometimes, he's simply in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, rumor ran away with scraps of information. The Messiah, of course, has no problem with them taking the credit, though Naive Newcomer may be shocked to find him No Hero To His Valet.
The false attribution can occur on-stage, with the Fake Ultimate Hero getting credit for what has happened, generally over the actual character who did it, or off-stage, where the characters learn the truth (often the hard way) but are often not the victims.
Older Than Dirt. In fact, the "false hero" who tries to claim the reward of the hero is a stock character of the Fairy Tale. After the Engagement Challenge, he shows up with the dragon's head or threatens the princess until she agrees to support his claim. A frequent problem for him is that while he has the heads, the hero cut their tongues out first. Others steal what he won on his quest. (Not all false heroes are the Fake Ultimate Hero, though, such as Cinderella's stepsisters.)
A recently popular variant seems to be to have this individual as a semi-sympathetic protagonist who will usually acknowledge himself that he's not all he's made out to be. Sometimes, however, their actions will make you wonder if they're just putting themselves down a little too much...
Examples:
Literature
- In the Discworld series, this happens to cowardly non-magical wizard Rincewind in Interesting Times, due to exaggerated tales of his deeds told by his sidekick from previous adventures, Twoflower (while Rincewind did perform many of the "heroic" deeds attributed to him, they attribute to him a much higher level of competence and ability than he actually had, and neglect to mention the fact he was scared out of his gourd the whole time, and mostly got by on luck alone). Like Ciaphas Cain, Rincewind is horrified by the attention, because his admirers quickly expect him to perform incredibly dangerous deeds to save their country.
- In the same book, his contemporaries at the Unseen University have a much more realistic idea of Rincewind's disposition, but he ends up being chosen as the man for the job anyway for two reasons: First, the word "Wizzard" on his hat is spelled the right way (compared to other solutions they were seeking for the riddle of the identity of the "Great Wizzard"), and second, Ridcully finds the common thread in Rincewind's experiences, i.e., none of it ever actually kills him.
- Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, who never does the amazing things he is credited for but takes credit for them by using the only magic he is good at, erasing memories.
- Lancelot in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles series is a total coward, and ultimately a villain, whose heroic reputation is the result of his hiring minstrels and bards to sing songs about his heroism, smoothly taking the credit for the work of others. These lies even survive his Karmic Death.
- Nimrod Pennyroyal in the Mortal Engines series rewrote the story recounted in Predators Gold, placing himself as the hero. In this way very similar to Lockhart. His lies were eventually uncovered, so that in The Darkling Plain when he really did do something worthy of recognition, and wrote a factual account, no-one was willing to publish his book.
- Harry Flashman practically defines this trope (indeed, was the primary influence on Commissar Cain, among others).
Video Games
- Captain Qwark from the Ratchet and Clank video games fits this trope perfectly. Beloved as a hero by all the galaxy and initially idolized by Ratchet, Qwark turns out to be a selfish, cowardly, self-promoting Jerk Ass who switches loyalties (or plays both sides) whenever it's convenient. Despite all of this, he remains a mostly sympathetic character due to his sheer incompetence.
- Sir Daniel Fortesque in Medievil. He spends most of the game taking guff from the heroes in the Hall of Heroes and the gargoyles about how he talked his reputation up, only to die instantly when the real war started.
- Wild Arms 5 has Nightburn, the hardest Bad Ass to walk the Earth. Except he's a propaganda tool of the bad guys, and never did any of the stuff he's famous for.
- There's a level of this in The Gods Must Be Crazy, where the confident tour guide tries to take credit for the clumsy hero's actions.
Western Animation
- Major Man, in the Powerpuff Girls episode "Major Competition". He gains the accolades of Townsville by repeatedly beating the Girls to the punch in saving the day, but the Girls discover this is because he keeps staging crimes and disasters. Eventually, they beat him by staging their own monster attack.
- A "hero" from Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo used the same tactic.
- Zap Brannigan from Futurama shows himself in every appearance to be an arrogant, cowardly, ineffectual philanderer. And yet every time, by the end of the episode, he ends up looking like Earth's greatest hero, usually because of something that the Planet Express crew did and he took credit for.
- Captain Good, a Cape participant from Yogi's Space Race, is secretly a disguised Phantom Phink (an Expy of Dick Dastardly - IN SPACE).
- The animated film Shark Tale is about a fish who is hailed as a "shark slayer" (the film's original title) after the shark chasing him is killed by a wayward anchor and he takes all the credit.
- The flamboyant Flint from Oban Star-Racers is the track favourite on his homeworld of Alwas, and, along with his gunner, Marcel, is believed by everyone there to be unbeatable. However, when Molly actually races him, she quickly learns his true secret to success: the judges fix races for him by deploying traps that only affect the challenger. When trying to play fair fails, Molly decides to goad Flint into proving his "skills" by flying into the traps; he promptly crashes.
Film
- Captain Amazing from Mystery Men is a paragon of this trope
Anime
- Mr. Satan (Hercule, in the dub.) from Dragonball Z holds this honor. He is frequently credited as stronger than any other professional fighter, although this usually does not bother any of the main characters despite their world-saving ventures being unrecognized. However, a few characters are not above blackmailing him about the secret... Of course, he is the strongest normal human who doesn't know how to use ki when he first appears, and the good guys in fact would rather stay out of the spot-light, so it suits them just fine.
- This is actually subverted in the fight against Kid Buu, where he manages to use his Fake Ultimate Hero status to convince practically every human on Earth to contribute their energy to a Spirit Bomb attack, pretty much saving the universe by doing so. Sometimes PR and the ability to work a crowd can come in handy it seems.
- In Bleach there's the TV personality Don Kanonji, a self-proclaimed exorcist. While he can see ghosts, he doesn't really know how to deal with them. (In fact in his first appearance it actually causes an incredibly self-centered ghost to become a Hollow.) Forms a group of junior-varsity "superheroes" to protect the protagonist's hometown when they leave. Naturally, it's the kids who do all the work. Unlike some, he is more likable in that he states that he does his actions in part to be an inspiring role model for children (hence standing his ground against the Hollow and even freeing a trapped Ichigo), and genuinely wants to make the world a better place.
Webcomics
- Captain Fist, in the webcomic girly
 , sometimes falls into this category. He does heroic stuff normally, but sometimes other people give him credit for the things the main characters do.
Tabletop Games
- Warhammer 40000's Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium, one of the most inspirational warriors of our age, fearless and decisive in battle, blessed by the God Emperor with an armor of faith so strong it can resist the powers of the Warp, always risking his life to save the common dog soldier of the Imperial Guard!
- ...except in reality he spends most of his time fleeing in terror, most of those men he saves are by pure accident, and all his resistance to the Warp is due to his assistant, Jurgen, the dirtiest soldier in the Imperium, who happens to be a "blank" and thus immune to psychic powers of any kind.
- To be fair, Cain has managed to resist the temptations of Chaos on at least one occasion when Jurgen was not close by, in the short story "The Beguiling" when Slaaneshi cultists attempted to seduce Cain and the Guardsmen with him. Cain cottoned on and shot the lead cultist, Jurgen was unaffected, and the two redshirts with them wound up as Slaaneshi sacrifices. Also, unlike most other Fake Ultimate Heroes, Cain doesn't particularly want his epic reputation, and in fact is somewhat horrified by the whole thing; all he really wants is to retire on some nice quiet planet somewhere, away from all the fighting.
- Which makes things funnier because Cain is constantly sent into the most dangerous battles specifically because everybody thinks he's a hero. And then he's forced to act at least somewhat like a hero, and do what looks to the troops like genuinely brave and inspiring things, because his reputation forces him to do them.
- Note, though, the suggestion in later novels that Cain becomes the mask, and actually becomes genuinely heroic; merely very self-effacing. See chapter fifteen, The Traitor's Hand; Cain risks his life to save other soldiers, while Amberley Vail comments in a footnote that 'it never seems to have occurred to him to order Jurgen to take the shot anyway, sacrificing the impetuous troopers for the good of the majority, a decision which most commissars would undoubtedly have taken without a qualm.'
Live Action TV
- Kind of used in season five of Angel. Although it is clear to the audience he is fake, Lindsey, calling himself Doyle, representing himself to Spike as a servant of the PTB. Although this is just a manipulation, Spike does see himself as a hero and does help the helpless in this way.
- Another take on this trope with season five is Spike the Fake Hero in the Shanshu prophecy. Inside the show, Spike has an equal chances of being the real subject of the prophecy, but seriously, the show is called Angel.
- In an episode of Monk, neurotic Harold Crenshaw claims to be the daredevil "Frisco Fly".
- TV example: Lucius Lavin from Stargate Atlantis set himself up as the hero on a backward planet through the clever use of a personal shield in the aptly-named episode Irresponsible. He went to the extreme of employing "attackers" so that he could save the village from them. Despite the fact that the Atlantis team had ample reason to just shoot him on sight, they let him go again. Most of the audience doesn't quite understand why.
- To be fair, his shield had been drained by the events of the episode; however, they hadn't let him know that, and as they were leaving he was daring a kid to kick him in the junk. That would serve the twofold purpose of revealing him as a fraud, and being really really painful.
- This is the entire premise of the Remington Steele series.
Comic Book
- The British anthology comic Victor gave us Cadman - The Front-line Coward; most of the stuff he was famous for was actually done by his aide, Tom Smith, the only one who knew his true self. Cadman threatens Tom to keep him from revealing this.
Web Originals
Fairy Tales
- In The Two Brothers, after the huntsman kills the dragon, the marshall cuts his head off while he sleeps. His Talking Animals restore him, and when he goes to the city with the animals, the princess identifies him, and since he has the tongues of the dragon, he can prove the marshall a liar.
- In The Three Dogs, the hero killed the dragon and promised to return within a year to marry the princess, but a coachman made her promise to say that he had killed the dragon. The hero proved himself with his dogs and the teeth of the dragon.
- In The Merchant, the hero, killing the dragon, had to throw the heads far apart to keep them from rejoining the body, but a peasant collected them and claimed to have killed the dragon. The princess recognizes his dog, and he can produce the tongues to prove his claim.
- In The Golden Bird, after the youngest prince found the Golden Bird, the Golden Horse, and the maiden from the Golden Castle on The Quest, his envious brothers shove him down a well, steal these things, and present them to their father. The maiden promised not to tell, but the fox saves the prince, and when he comes to the castle, all three of them cheer up, alerting his father to the truth.
- In The Brown Bear of the Green Glen, the brothers set on the hero and leave him for dead, stealing the magical water he had brought back and giving it to their father. When the princess from the land he had gotten it from comes, she can identify who actually got it.
- In The Water of Life, after the youngest prince got the water of life, his brothers steal it and replace it with salt water. The king believes that they saved him and the youngest son tried to kill him, and so he tries to have the youngest murdered. However, when people come seeking the hero, the king realizes that it was the youngest; fortunately, the servant he ordered to do it had disobeyed.
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