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Crime code 143: Killing a person outside of the Unseen University using magic. (Inside the UU, this is known as promotion.)
— The Ankh Morpork City Watch Diary
To be The Man, you've got to beat The Man!
In an organisation with a ranked hierarchal structure, you can get a promotion by showing your aptitude for the work, impressing senior ranked individuals, fulfilling certain criteria, having a place open up due to retirement, resignation or death and probably kissing a lot of ass. On the other hand, you can get a Klingon Promotion if when you kill a superior, you gain their rank, or a rank that the result of this death leaves open. Then the cutthroat competition for a promotion becomes a lot more literal.
This is a sister trope to You Kill It You Bought It. However in that one you kill someone, purposefully or accidentally and gain something of theirs. That could be a physical object or something more metaphysical like a role in life or a curse and you don’t need to have a system that puts the character in a position to get the job. This requirement of a rank to get into for a Klingon Promotion means it will show up in connection to different sorts of organisations.
For instance, the Klingon Promotion will turn up in organisations that favour ruthlessness and the heavy dominance of a leader. Hence the trope name refering to the Klingons of Star Trek, who are often portrayed as accepting assassination of a superior (with varying justification) as a legitimate option for career advancement. You’ll get it in royal or noble lines of succession where individuals can obsess over the fact that if only 72 people would die in a very short period they could become King.
A common subtrope is the Challenging The Chief trope where the role of boss goes to whoever's the biggest Badass who can kill any other Badass in ritual combat.
Perhaps, the focus will be on a character who uses this method often to get ahead in the world. They could easily then be The Starscream and if we get the chance to follow them going through several stations in life, advancing themselves with cunning, guile and the odd bottle of arsenic, we might get to see them as a Manipulative Bastard and maybe a magnificent one.
Asskicking Equals Authority is when you get a society that works based on this trope. The Evil Prince tends to see the world this way, due to his position. Occasionally, a superior can forestall it with Kill Me Now Or Forever Stay Your Hand.
Examples:
Anime & Manga
- One can become a Captain in Bleach this way (like Kenpachi Zaraki).
- Zaraki is the only known Captain to have ever done it. And didn't this come from the Bount Arc?
- It's mentioned in the non-filler material, the filler arc just decided to take it and run with it for the sake of adding another sub-plot. Let's face it: who wouldn't want more Kenpachi?
- Shingetsutan Tsukihime superficially follows this: the protagonist kills the female lead early in the show, only to find her resurrected but, thanks to his actions, somewhat depowered. He then has to cooperate with her for the rest of the show, hunting down vampires.
- In X/1999, The Sakurazukamori is a clan of assassins with only one member at any particular time. The fate of the Sakurazukamori is to choose to die at the hands of the one they love most who then takes their place and repeats the cycle. Yes, it's a weird series with so many masochistic characters that want to be killed.
- The headband rules of Afro Samurai fall under this. If one has the number one headband, they are considered god and only the number two can challenge him. The person who has said latter headband though can be challenged by anyone.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist, Major General Olivier Armstrong kills Lieutenant General Raven, then assumes his position after telling Fuhrer King Bradley she killed him.
ComicBook
Film
- The Sith "Rule of Two" is exactly this trope. Every Sith lord takes an apprentice. An apprentice can only become a Sith Lord himself with the death of his master, even if the apprentice is the one who kills him. He then customarily takes on an apprentice of his own, and the cycle continues.
- Such betrayal is not only common, it's actually expected of the apprentice. If the master has become weak or foolish enough to be killed by his apprentice, then obviously it was time for a new Sith Lord to take over anyway. And if he fails to take advantage of an opportunity to replace his master, he's clearly not ready to be the Sith Lord. The Sith always had a natural inclination to betray each other anyway; the "Rule of Two" was created specifically to limit the self-destructiveness of their Always Chaotic Evil nature.
- The funny thing is that the "Rule of Two" was actually made to curtail this behavior. Without it, the Sith organization practically ate itself since everybody constantly tried to pull this trope at once.
- Also we have the Skywalkers. Anakin killed Dooku, the current Sith apprentice - and became the new one. Palpatine wanted Luke to kill Anakin, and become the next apprentice.
- "You keep what you kill."
- At the end of Death Race 2000 (1975), Frankenstein assassinates Mr. President. In the next scene he's shown to have become the new President.
- Not exactly this trope, but it seems like every time a Roughneck in a leadership position dies in the Starship Troopers movie Rico immediately inherits his position. Even when he is forced to Mercy Kill the former Lieutenant, he is immediately promoted to replace him.
- The main plotline for the Ealing Studios dark comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets", where Louis Manzini, the illegitimate son of Lord D'Ascoyne, systematically murders his way through the family to become the sole heir to the D'Ascoyne estate.
- The Dark Knight, when the Joker recruits through "Tryouts," forcing the Mooks of a gangster that he just killed to kill each other with pool cues for a spot on The Jokers "team."
Literature
- Happens on the planet of Surebleak in the Liaden Universe all the time. If you want to be in charge of a territory, you have to off the old boss.
- The Children of the Light in the Wheel of Time have a ritualized dueling ceremony entitled "trial by the light," in which the looser's rank and property are forefit to the winner. Galad uses this to skip virtually the entire command structure and go from an unspecified junior rank straight to Lord Captain Commander (though, to be fair, the duel resulted when he called out the former Lord Captain Commander for sexually abusing his stepmother).
- In the Unseen University of the Discworld, killing a higher ranking wizard was the preferred means of promotion. The catch being, however that wizards aren't allowed to turn magic against one another, forcing them to resort to more practical means making daily UU living for high-ranking wizards an exercise in forensics. This came to an end, however, when Mustrum Ridcully became Archchancellor and proved nigh unkillable; and Wizards being creatures of laziness, soon came to realize a less competitive work environment is rather enjoyable.
- In the Merlin cycle of Roger Zelazny's Book of Amber series, Merlin's mother "arranges" to have everyone whose place in the line of succession was closer than Merlin's end up dead so she could become shadow ruler. Not a direct example, but definitely in the spirit of the Klingon Promotion. Of course, by the time Merlin becomes King of Chaos, he's no longer under her control.
- In David Anthony Durham's novel Acacia, the people of the Mien have a tradition of dueling to become chieftain instead of the chieftain, but this is never used as a plot point.
- Shakespeare was very fond of this trope, making it Older Than Steam. Mac Beth, Richard III and Claudius in Hamlet all got their positions this way, not to mention it's how Henry VII takes over form Richard.
- In Jack Chalker's Four Lords of the Diamond series, the four planets of the Warden Diamond, as a dumping ground for all the sociopaths, criminals, scum, villainy, and political opponents that the interstellar human empire decided weren't worth killing (or mindwiping) use this method for their internal hierarchies. On the one planet where this is frowned on, it still happens if you can frame or con someone higher up the chain of command to make them look bad so they get jailed, demoted or transferred for being stupid enough to fall for it.
Live Action TV
- Trope Namer - Star Trek The Next Generation, many places, big example is the episode Reunion, where the current Chancellor is poisoned, and Picard must help investigate the murder as well as ceremonially choose the successor to the High Council.
- Another good example, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, episode Tacking Into The Wind, where the new Chancellor from TNG Reunion, Gowron, is screwing things up during the Dominion War, mismanaging the Klingon battle efforts. Worf decides to challenge Gowron. He wins, becomes the next Chancellor, but almost immediately passes the torch to his friend and mentor, General Martok.
- It's interesting to note that in Reunion, Worf killed Duras, who was the other leading contender for Klingon leadership. So in essence, Worf was directly responsible for the rise and fall of Gowron.
- One of the Episodes, Dax explains the intricacies after hearing O'Brian and Bashir talk about the trope. Only a direct subordinate can make the challenge, and only after a severe infraction (cowardice, extreme failure, dereliction of duty)
- In the TNG episode "A Matter Of Honor", where Riker serves abord a Klingon ship in an officer exchange program, the subject of Klingon Promotion comes up; it's mentioned that offing the captain if he becomes unfit for command is one of the first officer's duties. Later, when the Klingon captain's misunderstanding threatens the Enterprise, Riker finds a way to exploit this rule, though in a rather more human and less bloody manner.
- This actually started for the franchise with the Mirror Universe episode of the original series. Chekov is planning to kill Kirk for treason, and he mentions everyone else would advance in rank. It's later mentioned that the mirror Kirk killed Pike to get the captaincy.
- So in fact it was originally "Terran (Imperial) Promotion."
- Parodied in one episode of DS 9. Quark is made leader of the Ferengi, and the last leader's son tries to take power this way. The capitalistic Ferengi, who would have respected him if he undermined Quark's power-base and accumulated all the real power behind the scenes, just called him an idiot for thinking it would work.
- Lilah Morgan totally does this to her boss in the premiere episode of Season 4 of Angel.
- In Stargate Atlantis, this is how Wraith promotions work. So, in "The Queen", when the Wraith "Todd" kills the Primary Queen and gives the credit to Teyla, who's currently disguised as a lower-ranking Wraith queen, Teyla becomes the new Primary.
- Probably how Clay became President in Sons Of Anarchy.
Tabletop Games
- For Drow of the Forgotten Realms campaign, treachery is an acceptable method of achieving advancement, provided the assassin does not get caught. No different from any other culture perhaps, except that it's oft-cited conventional wisdom, and the word of their goddess Lloth.
- It doesn't apply only to individuals but two whole noble clans as well. If one noble family becomes extinct, every lower ranking clan moves up in the hierarchy.
- The twist however is, that any noble who survives can report the murders. Which usually leads to every other noble clan teaming up against the offenders to punish their "crimes". As a result, attacks on the castles of noble families rarely leave any survivors. But drow are opportunistic bastards, so in the days and weeks following the "mysterious disappearance" of an entire clan, there are frequently some Cousin Olivers appearing in "random" other families.
- In 1st edition of Dungeons And Dragons, you had to do this to get to the highest level of the assassin class.
- The Ork hierarchy in Warhammer 40000 tends to work this way, ditto the Dark Eldar: if you succeed in killing the previous Warboss/Archite, the former officeholder clearly didn't deserve the job.
- The Dark Eldar are a particularly stellar example as literally the only method of advancement is to kill the person holding the desired title. Orks may simply intimidate other Orks into servitude with their superior size and bash the skulls of anyone who disagrees, but this trope is so fundamental to Dark Eldar society that bodyguards have to be hired from outside their Cabal (the closest thing they have to an organisation) because none of their subordinates are trustworthy. Incidentally, Asdrubael Vect, the leader of the most powerful Cabal, is one of the oldest and most powerful beings in the galaxy.
- The Skaven in Warhammer, and how! The entire race is built around the concept of backstabbing = good, and they follow it with gusto. There's probably not a single Skaven who is not planning to off his superior/tormentor/brother. Higher up in the ranks you have to get creative, as demonstrated when Grey Seer Thanquol of Gotrek and Felix fame offed his competitor for the position of army general with an accident involving a loaded crossbow and an exploding donkey.
Video Games
- In Red Alert 3, Four words: Premier PLAYER NAME HERE.
- Justified in that the former Premier went nuts and was going to kill you (and a good part of the world). By the time he's dead, you are the highest ranking party member still alive.
- In the first Command And Conquer game, Seth takes a dangerous initiative that Kane had explicitly forbidden: Attacking the States. After shooting him mid-sentence, Kane congratulates you for your promotion.
- The first Red Alert game would probably have you believe you should be looking behind your back when you're "promoted."
- This is basically the entire premise of No More Heroes. Wanna be the #1 assassin in America? Then just go kill the current #1, as well as any other assassins ranked ahead of you.
- Wanna be the Guy, kid? Here's a gun and a cape, so go take out the Guy. Just watch out for those spikes, and that apple that falls upward, and those eggplants, and the spike pit that stands up and starts chasing you through the level.
- In Makai Kingdom, Klingon Promotion also seems to be the standard method of Overlord succession in the Nippon Ichiverse. Even humans who kill a strong enough Demon Overlord (or enough) will become one. And if a Demon Overlord were to kill enough other Demon Overlords; they would become something... else.
- Similar to No More Heroes above, in Mad World you ascend the ranks of the gladiator game by killing those above you. Unlike No More Heroes, you don't need to be directly below their rank to gain it. Which is just as well, as there's over 150 contestants.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Killing drug lord Ricardo Diaz has the main character inherit his mansion and his gang in a very Scarface-like fashion.
- In the universe of Halo, Elite leaders are seen as accepting assassinations as tests of strength; if the leader is vulnerable to assassins, he is seen as "not strong enough", and doesn't deserve to be leader. The brutes adopt a similar strategy to determine when its time to get some new blood into the possition of Chieftain.
- Morrowind. Great House Telvanni, a political faction made up of ancient, amoral wizards, explicitly tells new recruits that thievery, backstabbing and murder are not only common but accepted means of rising through the ranks. Well, for other people anyway. And while you can be expelled for murdering fellow house members, your penance "quest" consists of the person who let you join in the first place saying, "Oh, you were expelled?" and then letting you back in.
"If you steal from another Telvanni, but still live, then clearly you deserve whatever you stole. Murdering your opponents by magic or treachery is the traditional way of settling disputes. If you win, then clearly your argument has more merit. You may be expelled as in any other Great House, but most Telvanni will not care or even know about it."
- Played with interestingly in Final Fantasy X, of all games, where the revelation of the Klingon Promotion is a major part of the development of the Church of Yevon. The first time we see Seymour, he has just taken over his late father Jyscal's position of Maester (roughly equivalent to some sort of sub-Pope) in the Church of Yevon, at that time in the game an apparent Saintly Church, dedicated to stopping fiends and Sin, making one suspect some nepotism but as Seymour is established as being already a high-ranking church official, it passes. Several hours later in the game, it is revealed that Seymour killed his father discreetly in order to get said position, cementing his status as a viable villain of the game and finishing the transformation of the Church of Yevon into a Corrupt Church. (It was Operation Mi'ihen that started said transformation, for completeness's sake). Some time yet later in the game (it varies, depending on how much Level Grinding the player had to do to defeat Evrae), it is revealed that not only did Seymour kill his father for his position, but that the rest of his peers, including the Pope-equivalent and de facto ruler of the world, were aware of his plot and condoned it as a way for Seymour to access the Maestership, thus proving that it really is Klingon Promotion at its finest and sending the Church of Yevon straight into Religion Of Evil territory.
- This is pretty much how Kormir became a god in Guild Wars: Nightfall, and for that matter what happened after Grenth defeated the previous god of death, Dhuum. It's implied Grenth wasn't the first, too.
Webcomics
- A similar event occured here
 during Gordon's trip to Nova Prospekt in Concerned.
- This is how the drow change their current Matriarch in Corner Alley 13.
- Somewhat subverted in Girl Genius, here.
- In the Sluggyverse, the anthropomorphic incarnations of the holidays can be killed by mortals (or each other, or aliens). The slayer, by "right of caste", then becomes the new personification of the holiday. Bun-Bun the killer rabbit accidentally became the Easter Bunny by this process. In order to stop being the easter Bunny, he set out to kill all the other holidays. Once in possession of all their powers, he could then change the rules. But he was defeated in the end by Mrs. Claus.
- Done with numbers in this Penny Arcade strip.
- Dearg from My Roommate Is An Elf attempts this while playing Offices and Busisnessmen. He tries to get Griswold's executive power by shooting him. Doesn't work out too well for either of them.
- This is Frans' plan to become the president in The Adventures Of Dr Mc Ninja.
WebOriginal
- This is how Dorf Quest deals with gods: A sufficiently powerful mortal may challenge one in a duel in order to gain his or her godhood. In addition, it takes ten years to get properly used to these new powers, during which the new god is (relatively) easy prey. It has been established that the turnabout rate is quite high, although there are also four gods who have never been defeated.
- And it may be how the ruling clique at WhateleyAcademy works in the Whateley Universe. More than one student has speculated that Team Kimba could become the Alphas just by beating down the current Alphas and laying claim to the position. And Team Kimba has already demonstrated they can do it if they want to.
Western Animation
Real Life
- This is also the de facto way many countries pick their leaders in Real Life.
- There were 25 different Roman emperors between the years 235 and 284, mainly because they kept getting assassinated.
- Saddam Hussien once walked into a meeting of the Iraqi parliament with a Gold plated AK-47, shot a half dozen guys and thanked the rest for electing him president.
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