History Main / QuicklyDemotedLeader

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''
** The game quickly puts Cloud in charge of AVALANCHE and the OlderAndWiser Barret Wallace under his command. Barret is [[BoisterousBruiser not necessarily the most reliable of leaders]], Tifa doesn't especially ''support'' him, and Aeris firmly supports Cloud. Everyone kind of goes along with it, despite AVALANCHE originally being Barret's show.
** When Cloud is temporarily off the board, Tifa briefly leads the group until they get Cloud to safety, but after that, she steps out and Barret is the obvious choice for team leader. Except that Barret admits that he's a terrible leader and instead picks Cid, on the grounds that Cid is an experienced commander and the best-suited for the role.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' continues this with Quistis Trepe, who starts out as Squall's instructor. She's already on thin ice by the time you meet her for not being able to control her students and gets her instructor's license revoked after the raid on Dollet early in the game. Officially, this is because she "lacks leadership qualities," though unofficially it's because the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil disciplinary committee]] threw its weight around after she teased their leader. However, this only demotes her to being a normal [=SeeD=], and somewhat subverts this trope in that Quistis, despite being upset over getting a demotion, actually seems happier to have the bureaucracy out of her way and returning to [=SeeD=] field work. She also has seniority over Squall up until events past Disc 1 in which Squall eventually gets promoted to leadership roles because of his proven ability to take control in difficult situations. As they are roughly the same age and both considered prodigies, this is not so surprising.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' has Marche's mentor Montblanc gladly hand over the keys to the clan after a single tutorial battle.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' does the same thing with Cid, though he's actually given a plot reason to back down from leadership. He still hands over the clan to Luso who, like Marche, is actually a normal schoolboy with little combat experience.
** Although, to be fair, Luso kinda lends himself to being charismatic/somewhat endearing and full of potential, even if Cid is unimpressed it does help to gain new members.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', the veteran knight Clive is the leader and founder of the Deliverance, yet his inability to push forward in the face of his lover Mathilda's capture leads him to cede command to an untrained yokel named Alm at the first opportunity. The VideoGameRemake ''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] this by having Fernand actually desert over this issue.
* Titania of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' is first Ike's mentor and boss, and after his father [[MentorOccupationalHazard dies]], she becomes Ike's subordinate. Unlike many examples of this trope, Ike's youth and inexperience is actually a source of conflict and some of the mercenaries quit over it (Ike ''himself'' thinks this is too sudden). Titania and those that remain do so by choice. Titania also doesn't get demoted - she still has her "second-in-command" position, she just changed bosses.

* Captain Anderson in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' is your commanding officer at the beginning of the game, but once you become a Spectre he steps down and takes a desk job because a Spectre must have their own ship and the ''Normandy'' is too awesome not to give to the first human Spectre. (Though [[FridgeLogic you'd think]] that they'd just reassign Anderson to a different ship.) However, at the end of the game [[spoiler:you have an option of making him the first human Council member]].

*** It's also implied Anderson has been on the Citadel for several years serving in an advisory role.

* On ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' [[BlackBossLady Amanda Waller]] was demoted from her position as warden of [[TheAlcatraz Belle Reve]] after the events of "Terrors," her first appearance. [[spoiler:Turns out this was the villains' main goal, with her replacement, [[PsychoPsychologist Hugo Strange]], being in on the whole thing]].
** Likewise, Robin was quickly replaced as leader of the Team by Aqualad. Everybody, Robin included, mostly just assumed that Robin would lead the team but his inexperience in working as part of a team and CowboyCop tendencies compromised several missions. Aqualad, however, was TheStoic and WiseBeyondHisYears and proved to be the only one with the patience and knowledge to effectively lead the Team in the field. He insists he's only holding the position until Robin is ready, which actually happens in the TimeSkip between seasons.

* Kiritsugu Emiya in the ''Fate'' series. Played with in that the prequel ''LightNovel/FateZero'' has him as the protagonist and actually shows us how he became the Quickly Demoted Leader: [[spoiler:failing to fulfill his wish, failing to destroy the Grail, and being cursed to lose his powers and die after mentoring [[TheHero Shirou]] for five years.]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/StarTrek2009'':
** This happens to Spock by the time the third act hits. [[spoiler:Spock Prime needs Kirk to take control of the ''Enterprise'' and for Kirk to do so, he needs to prove Spock is emotionally incapable of serving, which Kirk does by tap dancing on his BerserkButton.]]
** Also, Captain Pike is quickly captured allowing the main cast to take control of the ''Enterprise''. At the end, he's KickedUpstairs to allow Kirk to retain his command.

* Fung from ''Film/ShaolinSoccer''. He's a great soccer player who throws a game and is crippled by a hired mob, then years later becomes the coach to a group who use their shaolin martial arts to form their own soccer team.

** Likewise, Robin was quickly replaced as leader of the Team by Aqualad. Everybody, Robin included, mostly just assumed that Robin would lead the team but his inexperience in working as part of a team and CowboyCop tendencies compromised several missions. Aqualad, however, was TheStoic and WiseBeyondHisYears and proved to be the only one with the patience and knwoledge to effectively lead the Team in the field. He insists he's only holding the position until Robin is ready, which actually happens in the TimeSkip between seasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has an inversion in "Not So Awesome Blossom." Buttercup becomes the de facto leader of the Powerpuffs after Blossom, whose confidence is shot, runs away from home.

* In most armies, a platoon is commanded by a junior officer in his early twenties who's just finished his training. The most experienced member of the platoon will almost always be his second in command, the platoon sergeant. Even in larger units, until you get up to the level of regiments and brigades (commanded by senior colonels or generals), the person with the longest, most illustrious military career will probably be the senior enlisted man, not any of the officers.
** One reason for this is that it's quite difficult to take care of both the tactics and admin/discipline side of leading a platoon. They're also mutually incompatible to an extent, tactical leadership requiring a certain distance from the men but admin and discipline requiring a closer relationship. Therefore the officer deals with the relatively easy tactical side of things (whilst learning from the sergeant who will have learnt a fair bit of this himself) and the sergeant takes the job that requires more hands-on experience and a closer working relationship with the men.
** Another reason is that commanding a platoon is where officers start their career, and when they are promoted, they rise to higher levels of command (company or battalion), to be replaced by another young officer fresh from military academy. In contrast, a lot of the non-coms will lack the training and education to be commissioned officers and thus are stuck at being senior sergeants and the like.
** It depends a bit on the era, though. In the 18th century, for instance, the age difference could be even greater as the most junior officers (ensigns, cornets) in various European could be as young as 14-to-15, while many of the enlisted men would be twenty or older when they first joined up, and so an officer would be likely to be more experienced than a ranker of the same chronological age. And officers tended to continue to serve longer (if they survived), generals into their seventies.
* If a sports player steps in for an injured player and consistently plays better than that player, they are usually given the starting spot, while the injured player becomes a backup.

* In most armies, a platoon is commanded by junior officer in his early twenties who's just finished his training. The most experienced member of the platoon will almost always be his second in command, the platoon sergeant. Even in larger units, until you get up to the level of regiments and brigades (commanded by senior colonels or generals), the person with the longest, most illustrious military career will probably be the senior enlisted man, not any of the officers.

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' subverts this with Hash and Uranus, with a WhamEpisode.

* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}''. Kai is initially the leader of the Ninja on missions, and even after it is discovered that Lloyd is TheChosenOne, Kai is still the leader due to Lloyd's lack of experience, ability, and age. It is only after Lloyd gets all of these things (he was aged up in one episode due to a permanent magic spell) that he eventually becomes the leader.

* In ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'' Queen Haruto Wisteria of Clarines abdicates the throne in the first chapter she appears in, handing the rule of Clarines to Izana only a chapter after she and her position have been established.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', the veteran knight Clive is the leader and founder of the Deliverance, yet his inability to push forward in the face of his lover Mathilda's capture leads him to cede command to an untrained yokel named Alm at the first opportunity. The VideoGameRemake ''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' deconstructs this by having Fernand actually desert over this issue.

* The Monk in ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' qualifies for this. He's supposed to be a very powerful [[TheForce "attuned"]] person to the will of the Earth (actually trained for this), and can even destroy large buildings. But he's arrogant, not interested in explaining almost anything he does and [[{{Arson Murder And Jaywalking}} doesn't even bathe]]. He's also the ProudWarriorRaceGuy. These all pale in comparison with his history of [[spoiler:being in Renton's position and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption failing]]]] for no explained reason, unless he was the [[spoiler:corralians']] own, intended Obi Wrong.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

** Mia Fey is killed early on so Phoenix can be a protagonist without the 'safety net' of his uber-awesome boss. Though Mia still does bail him out a few times and remains a key supporting played for Phoenix in the trilogy.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has an inversion in "NotSo Awesome Blossom." Buttercup becomes the de facto leader of the Powerpuffs after Blossom, whose confidence is shot, runs away from home.

* A disabled [[Series/UltraSeven Dan Moroboshi]] is this to upstart Gen Ootori in ''Series/UltramanLeo''.

** Dodged in ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'' with Ratchet, no-nonsense knife expert and prototype mech pilot. Leader and general badass, until shortly into Chapter 1. At this moment, her spiritual power gives out, rendering her unable to pilot her mecha and thus no longer able to lead from the front. Instead of getting demoted to following the new hero, Shinjiro Taiga, Ratchet gets the promotion she deserves from being Taiga's immediate commanding officer to still being his immediate commanding officer.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has one of these... namely, you. You, the player character, are actually a supporting character in the long-lost Emperor's son's story. Although you do more than your share of the work, it is he who the plot ultimately revolves around, he who will defeat the BigBad, and he who will be remembered in future legends. You do get the Elder Scrolls equivalent of a knighthood, though...
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', there is a book about what happened. History is a bit fuzzy on the details but the player character is remembered for a dizzying mix of heroic deeds while the son is only really known for his HeroicSacrifice.

* In ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'' Queen Haruto Wisteria of Clarines abdicates the throne in the first chapter she appears in, handing the rule of Clarines to Izana only a chapter after she and her position have been established.