Whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with...
Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated.
are generally held together by
The Power Of Friendship,
Love, or just
general loyalty to the hero. Bands of villains tend to be held together by fear of the head villain. Eventually, villains often discover
to their surprise that while fear might be easier to establish,
love has a lot more staying power.
If the villain is especially unlikeable, this can culminate in a
Heel Face Turn.
The trope name comes, obviously, from Machiavelli's "
The Prince", which tends to encourage ruling by fear. Those people
forget an important thing Machiavelli pointed out, however - while it is better to be
loved than feared, and it is far safer to be feared than loved (if you cannot be both), it is vital to avoid being
hated, since if you are hated people will be willing to suffer just to oppose you.
A huge misunderstanding of this concept is on the part of the user. While it is meant to use fear, it means fear of not the person, but the
punishment of not following the rules as they are intended. Still,
doesn't change the misuse of this trope and those who follow the ideas. Also note that most of the
victims actually prove Machiavelli right, as he states that a man who is hated and feared is less secure then a man who is loved but not feared (Who is, in turn, less secure then a man who is feared but not loved)
Often used as part of an
Aesop. See also
Villainous Demotivator. Contrast
Bread And Circuses, which Machiavelli actually supported.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- In Pokemon, evil trainers generally treat their Pokemon cruelly, while good trainers treat them well.
- Jessie and James are the exception, while they play the role of antagonists, they get emotionally attached to their Pokemon. The ones they try and steal though? Not so much.
- Also subverted in that the cheapest medicinal items hurt your Pokemon's Happiness points. So much for getting that Espeon.
- But if you loved your Pokémon, you'd pay a bit more money to buy the medicine that doesn't taste bad.
- Max Revives can't be bought anywhere at all, but Revival Herbs can.
- Played with in From Eroica With Love, the antagonist/Love Interest Klaus is both feared and loved by the Alphabets. He is gruff with his men, expecting perfection from them and is constantly threatening to sent them off to Alaska if they fail (and he actually goes though with it at least once) but also acts like he's the only one allowed to insult them and let's them known that they aren't just Red Shirts, admittedly by yelling at them.
- Subverted in TTGL in Rossiu, who actually follows Machievelli's true ideals with not only this, placing Simon not above the rules despite being leader and placing him in jail along the lines of the actual ideals. Basically everything he chooses to do is Machievellian nature and were the most rational thing to do for each situation. Things in that world ran more on cool then rational though.
- Because of the ridiculous nature of the series, his actions makes him look like more of a deluded knight templar, instead of the only sane man just trying to do whats best for humanity while surrounded by people with delusions of grandeur that would doom us all (if they ever failed to overcome an obstacle by putting on sunglasses and loudly proclaiming their determination).
Film
- Star Wars uses this as one of the many contrasts between the rebellion and the Empire. In fact, ruling by fear seems to be having been codified into Imperial policy
as of the construction of the first Death Star:
General Tagge: ...how will the Emperor maintain control over the bureaucracy—
Grand Moff Tarkin: The regional governors will have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep them in line. Fear of this battle station.
- It's called the Tarkin Doctrine.
- Leia invokes this trope just before Alderaan is destroyed:
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
- In the X Wing Series, Lara turns after realizing that all the important parts of the Empire are just that bad. It's mentioned that TIE pilots are kept in a constant state of paranoia so they can be loosed on the enemy.
- In 101 Dalmatians, Horace and Jasper are reluctant to kidnap and then kill the puppies, and are always asking to get their pay and be done with it, but they cower in fear at the sight of Cruella De Vil (and who could blame them) and go about their grim business. They don't exactly turn against her at the end, but as Cruella rages at her defeat, they dismiss her with an "Aw, shut up!"
Literature
- Made blatantly obvious in Harry Potter, and the contrast between Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort also suffers adverse effects from this.
- A more subtle, yet direct example, would be the Malfoy family, particularly Narcissa, who betrays Voldemort to save her son.
- Subverted in Discworld by Lord Havelock Vetinari, who has been described as recognizing that you don't have to be feared or loved... just vital.
- Although anyone claiming to be completely unafraid of Vetinari is either lying, insane, or possibly Captain Carrot.
- Carrot considers the Patrician vital in keeping him off the throne, so that's okay.
- And of course Lord Rust shows that both Machiavelli and Vetinari are wrong, as occasionally events will conspire to provide the ruler with an adversary who is both too stupid to fear the ruler AND too stupid to fear (or even understand) the consequences of getting rid of the ruler. Fortunately stupidity is its own solution most of the time. It is mentioned in Feet of Clay that no one sane had tried to kill Vetinari in years because of being vital, but people do keep trying nonetheless.
- It also helps to be a trained assassin that never sleeps.
- Extensively examined but never explicitly mentioned in The Bartimaeus Trilogy in the relationship between Bartimaeus and Nathaniel, and the contrast between it and the relationship Bartimaeus had with his former master Ptolemy.
Live Action TV
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, especially in season six with The Trio, but also obvious with some of the season one and two vampire minions.
- In Farscape, Magnificent Bastard Scorpius takes care to reward his useful mooks (most particularly his eventual pseudo-Dragon Braca). Of course, they're still scared of him, because horrible things happen to his enemies and prisoners, but he's the lesser of several evils, and as a result his minions are very loyal indeed.
Video Games
- Used very sensibly in City Of Heroes with the Alternate Universe Praetorian Earth, in which all the named heroes are instead Machiavellian fascists, and in the America Korps Alternate Universe where the evil twins to the heroes are instead Nazis. The Big Bad Tyrant and Reichsman are individually a perfect match for Statesman, but the lesser heroes easily overcome their Praetorian counterpart; the Big Bad intentionally sabotaged their training so they didn't become threats to his leadership.
Western Animation
- Avatar The Last Airbender: Azula believes "fear is the only reliable way" to control people, and it always works for her. Then Mai turns around and betrays her because she loves Zuko. Ten seconds later, Ty Lee also betrays her to save Mai. This lead directly to her Villainous Breakdown.
